Nail biter of a men's points race
Nineteen
riders lined up for the men's points race. For those new to track racing,
here is a very terse primer. Points are allotted 5-3-2-1 for the first
through fourth finishers every 10 laps of the 120-lap race. Any rider
taking a lap over the field earns 20 points for each lap taken. Any rider
losing a lap to the field loses 20 points. The winner is the one with
the most points at the end.
Only a few laps into the 120-lap race, Rafat Ratajcsyk (Poland) and Yauheni
Sobal (Belarus) launched the first attack of the race. The field quickly
went to single file under the pressure but eased at the catch. Marc Altmann
(Germany) Darren Young (Australia), and Sobal attacked and remained off
the front for the first of the twelve sprints, which was taken by Young.
Several accelerations prompted the dangerous duo of Sergi Escobar (Spain)
and Mikhil Ignatiev (Russia) to attack in pursuit of the second sprint.
Chris Newton (Great Britain) took note of the threat with Colby Pearce
(USA) in tow. Newton won the sprint to move into first with six points.
The pack survived a flurry of accelerations before Kei Uchida (Japan)
won the third sprint, which was quickly followed by a make-the-race seven-rider
break. Present were rainmakers Pearce, Newton, Ignatiev, Escobar and World
Scratch Race Champion Greg Henderson (New Zealand). Also making the move
were Marco Arriagada (Chile) and Cancio Sebastian (Argentina). This group
took a lap and most of the rainmakers went straight through and off the
front again. The splintered field caused the leaders to become the field.
After the 80-to-go sprint, it was a very tight race with Newton leading
at 29 points, Escobar at 27 and home turf favorite Pearce in third at
25 points. Newton, Pearce, Henderson and Ignatiev took yet another lap,
putting them in first (49 points), second (45 points), and tied for third
(41 points), respectively.
Pearce put in a big attack just before the midway point. Ignatiev set
off in hot pursuit and made the catch as the bell rang for the 60-to-go
sprint, but Pearce still took the sprint to move within one point of race
leader Newton. Pearce and Ignatiev hammered on to take another lap. The
20-point bonus gave Colby the lead with 70 points and a six-point advantage
over the second-placed Russian. Neither scored in the next sprint that
was won by Newton, so the six-point gap remained.
However, at the 40-to-go sprint, Ignatiev scored one point to move within
striking distance of the American. The race became two mini-races, with
Pearce and Ignatiev battling for the Gold and Newton trying to secure
third place ahead of Henderson.
The Russian chipped away again at the American by taking third (2 points)
versus Pearce's fourth (1 point) in the 30-to-go sprint, while Newton
won the sprint just ahead of Henderson to further his advantage in the
duel for the Bronze.
Escobar scooped up the 20-to-sprint ahead of Pearce who edged out the
Russian's to move back to a five-point advantage. That brought on even
more cheering by the vocal crowd that was clearly enjoying the World Cup
event.
Ignatiev put in a strong attack to take the 10-to-go sprint ahead of
Jos Pronk (Netherlands) while the American was just clipped by Newton
and Escobar and finished just out of the points. This set up a storybook
ending for the home country hero as the score was now tied at 74 points
with one just sprint remaining. Under current UCI rules, if the race is
tied at the finish the winner is decided based on finishing order on the
final lap among those tied for points.
The entire crowd was on its feet screaming and banging the boards as
it tried to will Pearce extra speed to finish ahead of the hard fighting
Russian. The two were side-by-side fighting through traffic as they surged
for the finish line. Ignatiev just slipped past the American for fifth
and so won the race based on finishing position of the last lap. It was
an exciting end to a fantastic race.
Scratch race world champion Greg Henderson (New Zealand) who is trying
to earn a berth in the points race for the world championships, was dearly
tired after his first track race since the Olympics. "My coach and
I thought Ignatiev, Pearce, and Newton would be the ones to watch. Having
sort of a mixed field with some very fast guys and some struggling made
it really hard. We'll keep an eye on the World Cup points as far as qualifying
goes. You cannot be in top condition for each World Cup event if you want
to win at Worlds."
After the awards ceremony, Pearce talked with several fans and signed
a water bottle for an event volunteer. It was clear he enjoyed racing
in a World Cup event on home country soil. And to put on a thrilling show
and finish second was icing on the cake.
FINAL RESULTS
1 Mikhil Ignatiev (Russia) 74 pts 35.44.458 (50.362km/h)
2 Colby Pearce (USA) 74
Two laps ahead
3 Christopher Newton (Great Britain) 63
4 Gregory Henderson (New Zealand) 46
One lap ahead
5 Sergi Escobar Roure (Spain) 41
6 Kei Uchida (Japan) 35
7 Jos Pronk (Netherlands) 27
8 Cancio Sebastian (Argentina) 24
Zero laps
9 Yauheni Sobal (Bielorussia) 16
10 Darren Young (Australia) 5
11 Rafat Ratajczyk (Poland) 4
12 Marco Antonio Arriagada (Chile)
13 Vasyl Yakovlev (Ukraine)
One lap behind
14 Marc Altmann (Germany) -18
15 Martin Gilbert (Canada) -19
16 Damir Murzagaliyev (Kazakhstan) -20
17 Petr Lazar (Czech Republic) -20
DNF Michael Berling (Denmark)
DNF King Wai Cheung (Hong-Kong) -20
Sprints
110 to go
1 Darren Young 5 pts
2 Yauheni Sobal 3
3 Marc Altmann 2
4 Christopher Newton 1
5 Rafat Ratajczyk
100 to go
1 Christopher Newton 5 pts
2 Colby Pierce 3
3 Sergi Escobar Roure 2
4 Cancio Sebastian 1
5 Mikhil Ignatiev
90 to go
1 Kei Uchida 5 pts
2 Jos Pronk 3
3 Yauheni Sobal 2
4 Mikhil Ignatiev 1
5 Rafat Ratajczyk
80 to go
1 Sergi Escobar Roure 5 pts
2 Christopher Newton 3
3 Colby Pierce 2
4 Gregory Henderson 1
5 Yauheni Sobal
70 to go
1 Sergi Escobar Roure 5 pts
2 Yauheni Sobal 3
3 Christopher Newton 2
4 Jos Pronk 1
5 Rafat Ratajczyk
60 to go
1 Colby Pierce 5 pts
2 Mikhil Ignatiev 3
3 Kei Uchida 2
4 Yauheni Sobal 1
5 Marco Antonio Arriagada
50 to go
1 Christopher Newton 5 pts
2 Rafat Ratajczyk 3
3 Yauheni Sobal 2
4 Martin Gilbert 1
5 Marc Altmann
40 to go
1 Kei Uchida 5 pts
2 Sergi Escobar Roure 3
3 Cancio Sebastian 2
4 Mikhil Ignatiev 1
5 Jos Pronk
30 to go
1 Christopher Newton 5 pts
2 Gregory Henderson 3
3 Mikhil Ignatiev 2
4 Colby Pierce 1
5 Cancio Sebastian
20 to go
1 Sergi Escobar Roure 5 pts
2 Colby Pierce 3
3 Mikhil Ignatiev 2
4 Cancio Sebastian 1
5 Gregory Henderson
10 to go
1 Mikhil Ignatiev 5 pts
2 Jos Pronk 3
3 Christopher Newton 2
4 Sergi Escobar Roure 1
5 Colby Pierce
Final
1 Yauheni Sobal 5 pts
2 Kei Uchida 3
3 Gregory Henderson 2
4 Rafat Ratajczyk 1
5 Mikhil Ignatiev
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