Feiss nets another gold, Baranoski stuns in keirin

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Holt bolts to points race win

Team Type 1's Daniel Holt hit out hard to claim his first national title in the men's points race, topping breakaway companion Shane Kline (Bissell) and Cody O'Reilly (OUCH). The 29-year-old said the win "has been a long time coming".

"I didn't have too many expectations for the race, but I'm happy it happened, especially after having such a horrible omnium earlier this week," Holt said.

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The Michigan native was aggressive early, countering a suicidal early attack by Andrew Crater and nearly gaining a lap. The five points he gained while away proved critical to his gold medal ride.

"That attack kind of killed me. I won one of the sprints and then I sat in the bunch suffering for about 30 laps," Holt said.

A number of moves went during the middle part of the race, with the revived OUCH team being particularly aggressive. Austin Carroll mopped up points while Cody O'Reilly went on a solo attack to gain several sprints. But the defining move of the night was a mid-race attack by Dan Harm, who had been present in a number of earlier breakaways.

Harm's attack came after a series of moves had shattered the field, and Holt and Kline sensed it was the right time to put in the effort to steal a lap.

"I noticed everyone was getting a little tired, and I made the right move and got with the right guys," Holt said.

Kline seized the opportunity to make his first trip to an elite podium, conserving his energy early in the race and then making the move when it counted. "I knew I had just one solid effort in me. I watched the race play out for a while, then saw the opportunity when guys were starting to hurt. I got across and Holt came with me, and from there it was just go as hard as you can and take the lap.

"I just sat in the rest of the race - I started cramping pretty bad, so I didn't have my sights on winning anymore. It was about surviving and holding on for second."

O'Reilly bounced back from a late-race crash, jumping back on his bike with torn shorts and a four-inch long splinter still lodged in his leg. He was surprised to still have enough left to gain the critical points in the final sprints to earn the bronze medal.

"I was thinking I would lead Austin out, because I didn't think I would have enough, but when I rolled the sprint I thought, well I guess I do have some gas left. I was too far back with three laps to go, but I got in the right spot and got up there.

"It's pretty nice, I'm usually not so good at points races."

Baranoski surprises in men's keirin

17-year-old Matthew Baranoski provided the big surprise of the night by besting comparative giants Giddeon Massie and Jimmy Walker to win the men's keirin.

In his first trip to the elite national championships, Baranoski was surprised to pull off the win. "This was not expected at all. I was just hoping to make the final and I was stoked at that."

Baranoski got the first spot behind the motor and never relinquished his lead throughout the race, while Massie and Walker sat at the back marking each other.

The sprint rivals made a last lap charge from the back and nearly succeeded, but Walker said he ran out of steam in the last corner."I think we left it at the right time, but unfortunately I blew up in the last corner. I had to come from a long way, and I just didn't have that speed-endurance tonight.

Having Walker and Massie worried about each other worked out perfectly for Baranoski. "I wanted to go early because I knew I didn't have the top end speed to go with these guys," he said. "My sprint went with a lap and a half to go, they went with three quarters to go. They left the door open for me in turn three and I just took it and went."

Massie was philosophical about the race. "I wanted to make my move much earlier than that, but unfortunately Jimmy and I spent maybe a little too much time watching each other. I saw the video and Matt had actually ridden the front the entire race. He's very strong, he obviously showed that at the junior world championships. That's keirin racing, it's anybody's game once you're in the final."

Higgins wins crash-marred points race

Cari Higgins and Peanut Butter & Co/Twenty12 teammate Hanan Alves-Hyde dominated the women's points race, with Higgins' well-timed sprints earning her the winning margin, while Alves-Hyde used several solo breakaways to net the silver medal.

Frequent attacks were well-marked by the teammates, who never allowed any move to gain more than half a lap. "It was actually a fun race, because it was really active. A few of the girls who knew they couldn't win in the sprints were definitely putting in big efforts to get away, and it made us sprinter types work a lot harder to keep them from getting away," Higgins said.

Alves-Hyde said she was tired from the omnium earlier in the week, and after finding her sprint lacking decided to gain points by attacking. "I thought I'd just go get the points the hard way. I almost got a lap twice, and it cooked me but it worked out really well."

Third-placed Kim Geist was not so happy with the tactics, finding it impossible to get away. "From my point of view it was really negative, but that's how it goes. There were some moves - there was someone initiating, but then everything was shut down."

The race was marred by a nasty crash at the mid-way point which took down fourth-placed Elizabeth Newell and Heather Albert, who got back up, and Valerie Brostrom and Shelby Reynolds, who were too injured to continue.

Feiss adds another gold in the sprint

Keirin champion Dana Feiss used her power and newly-gained confidence to add a second national title to her palmares in the women's sprint. The 20-year-old topped last year's champion Cristin Walker with an unbeatable lap-long effort.

"I'm on cloud nine right now, it feels fantastic," Feiss said, confirming that the keirin win gave her the mental boost necessary to take her second victory. "It was the reinforcement that said 'you trained all year for this and you can do this'. Every rider has to believe they have it when they go to the line.

"This actually feels surprisingly good, because the keirin is usually my strongest event. But I got to the line and said I know how to do this, it's just a matter of execution. I got into the right mindset and did just like I did in training and it came together perfectly."

Walker acknowledged that the level of competition had been raised since last year. "Everyone else did great, all their times improved, it was really good competition this year," she said.

The bronze medal final saw the night's quickest 200m qualifier Jen Featheringill crash out during the second ride, leaving Liz Carlson to claim the bronze.

"It's a tough way to win a bronze medal. Jen's a really great competitor and she's in really good form so it's unfortunate to see that happen," Carlson said, adding that the racing up until that point had been very good.

"The competition has been really stiff, and everyone's racing very strong. They've been working hard - I've been training with Dana for a couple years and it's been cool to see her progress and realize her potential. It's exciting for USA Cycling.

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