Scottish Track Champs

[Jonathan M]

Just thought i'd give a little report for the weekend.

 

So i had the 500m time trial on the Friday night. I was aiming for a top 5 finish with other people in mind, namely John Paul, the recently crowned British Sprint and 500m time trial champion, the guy who's british Flying 200m record is the fastest a youth has ever gone in history so it really was a battle for 2nd and 3rd places.

 

One problem was the back straight - With strong winds, fast times weren't expected. So i did a time of 38.84 - a personal best, although considering the last 500 i did was over a year ago - with Greg Brown in a time of 38.41 and with John Paul taking the win with a time of 35.51 so quite a large margin of victory Although a bronze was a great result for me although largely unexpected

 

With the sprint the next day i had hopes of a top 4 finish, but with almost gale force winds on the back straight that would slow down times and also dictate tactics. I managed to qualify in 3rd place behind Greg Brown and John Paul so it was looking good.

In the 1st round i was against the Isle of Mull rider Sam Downing, who was having his first races on the track so i was able to easily outsmart him in both heats so i was up in the semi-final against Greg Brown with John Paul against Paul Stewart in the other semi.

I managed to take the first match against Greg after a well judged jump underneath him with a good gap emerging. So 1-0 to me in the best of three race. In match 2 i attacked again but Greg was right on my tail coming around me on the back straight so i sat up realising i had lost so it was 1 a piece with a C ride required to decide who would ride off for gold or bronze. So after every race all youths have to get their gears checked to make sure they aren't over the limit. So just before the C ride off i was told the gear i've been riding all year on, that had passed every gear check that day, was apparantly illegal. So it was for the desperate scramble for a gear that would be legal and as it turned out i was undergeared for the ride. I was then duly beaten although still with the chances for another bronze.

So with Paul Stewart beaten by John Paul it was between the 2 of us for the bronze. He took the 1st ride after i fell asleep and he took advantage and got a gap on me. During the time gap between Allister Watson put me on a gear which matched the gear checker's requirements and was big enough.

So taking the lead in the next match i got a good enough gap after my kick and won quite easily. So it was 1-1 with one ride left to decide who would take the bronze. With paul attacking again i got onto his back wheel and decided to rush him on the back straight, forgetting about the wind. Paul just nabbed in on the line with less than half a wheels width between it on the line. And as expected, John Paul won the sprint 2-0 with Greg taking his 2nd silver of the weekend

Although disappointed not to get a a 2nd bronze i was pleased to achieve a 4th place as that is what i had been aiming for

 

With the 2k pursuit the next day i didnt expect to do fabulously with a field of road riders. I ended up 5th, just out of qualification for the 3rd/4th ride-off, but doing better than i expected. So Paddy Galbraith took the gold with Greg taking a 3rd silver and then Kyle Yates taking the bronze over Angus Gillies

 

So all in all i was pleased with my performances considering most of the riders i was racing against will be juniors next year.

 

Thanks for reading

[P McDonald]

Good stuff, I enjoyed that read

.

PMcD

[Kenny MacDonald]

Well done Jonathon , the most important part is that you are making steady progress against riders who are older and more experienced . Next year will see you reap the rewards for this years efforts

[KennyS]

Well done Jonathan.

 

A good read and insight into the mysterious world of gear checkers

[Darryl Gunson]

Congratulations Jonathon, on some fine riding. An interesting report as well. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

All the best,

 

Darryl