MDCC 2009 Track Sprint Champion

Shea Hindman, MDCC's New Sprint Champion
Following a number of practice sessions held to encourage and develop club members skills and confidence in the art and simplicity of riding a fixed wheel bicycle, we ran the first of this years track specific championships decide the Sprint Champion.
It looked like we were to have six riders taking up the challenge but unfortunately Jon Cross was unable to compete as he was unable to remove one of his pedals from his road bike. This left Chris Taylor, Joe Francis, Shea Hindman, Paul and Andrew Richardson.
The evening started with each rider completing a time flying 200 metres to determine the seeding for the match sprints.
Shea 13:64 Joe 13:94 Andrew 14.:13 Chris 14:96 Paul 15:21
This meant that the seeding saw Paul and Chris battle it out to obtain the remaining place in the semi-finals. The match sprints were to be the best of three over a distance of 500 metres The first match went to Paul by half a bike length with the final 200m being covered in 15:05 secs. The second was a much slower race as each rider tried to force the other on to the front. With the distance to the finishing line reducing to 150 metres Paul finally made a dash for the line. He just managed to hold Chris off to cross the line first, winning by a tyre width. Hopefully the photo finish will support this decision.
We now had our semi finalists.
The 2nd seed Joe would be riding against Andrew and 1st seed Shea taking on 5th seed Paul.
The clash between Joe and Andrew didn’t go according to the seeding as Andrew produce two excellent rides. In the first Joe led out with Andrew following close behind. As both riders approached the 200 metre line they were following the blue line. This allowed Andrew to drop inside Joe and sprint away. Andrew taking this match in a time of 15:14 secs. In the second Andrew led off with Joe slowly following Andrew’s wheel. On the first banking Andrew slowed the pace even further this forced Joe to go early. Joe opened up a gap of about 3 bikes lengths but Andrew began to slowly bride the gap. At this point Joe failed to push home his advantage and Andrew made it onto Joe’s wheel. As both riders headed for the line Andrew moved out and accelerated past Joe to win by half a wheel (14:95). The remaining semi final was a much clearer affair as it went with the seeding. Paul put up a fine effort but Shea’s power and smooth peddling style allowed him to win in two rides completing the final 200m in 15:70 secs and 14:94 secs.
While the riders got their breath back Joe’s son Carlo had an attempt at the flying 200m. He was cheered on to record his PB of 20:90 secs..
With the evenings racing coming to a climax everyone could not have foreseen the strong effort Andrew was going to unleash. The first sprint went to Shea who led from the front and eased away while carefully watching and matching Andrews’s efforts. The second went to Andrew who out foxed Shea who didn’t hold as tight as he should allowing Andrew to pip him in the final dash for the line (14:12). While the finalists rested the match for 3rd and 4th took place. This saw Joe take on Paul. Both riders agreed that this match was going to be a single race event. Once again the riders used the first 350m to see how slow they could ride and how close they could force each other to the fencing. At 150 m Joe stamped on the pedals and headed for the line. Paul reacted quickly but his earlier efforts now took its toll and Joe won in 16:24 to take the honours. With 3rd place decided it was back to the finalists.
The final race began at a walking pace with Andrew showing off his skills by doing a track stand which forced Shea into the lead. Shea increased the pace . Andrew tried to maintain contact but as they entered the finishing straight Shea’s advantage took him to the line in 14:82 secs making him this year’s track sprint champion.