Jamie Staff and Shane Kelly(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Team England cyclists missed out on the medals in this evening’s Commonwealth Games track finals in Melbourne’s Multi Purpose Venue as the honours all went to Australia. Emma Davis Jones from Cheshire and Derby’s Nikki Harris finished seventh and eighth respectively in the women’s 25km points race. Davis Jones scored four points and Harris three.
Gold went to Australia’s Katherine Bates with 30 points while her team-mate Rochelle Gilmore was second with 21. Scotland’s Kate Cullen got the bronze, scoring 13 points.
Ashford’s Jamie Staff and Manchester’s Matthew Crampton both failed to challenge for honours in the men’s keirin. Staff finished sixth in the second division final after failing to make it through to the medal race, while the 19-year-old Crampton didn’t make it through the first round.
The gold went to Australia’s Ryan Bayley with Canada’s Travis Smith getting silver and Scotland’s Ross Edgar taking the bronze.
Staff looked in good form in the first round early in the evening, when he was second in the first heat, just losing out to Bayley on the last lap. But Crampton had a poor race and was disqualified in the third heat for bumping John Cumberbatch of Barbados as he tried to get out of a boxed position on the inside.
Staff then tried to sprint off the front of the group in his second round race and was swept away by Australia’s Shane Kelly. Staff finished fifth, meaning he would be out of the medals in an event he won at the 2004 World Championships in Melbourne.
In the men’s 40k points race, Barnsley-born Ed Clancy was the top ranked England rider. The 21-year-old from Cheadle finished seventh with 66 points. Andy Tennant from Wolverhampton was 10th with 43 points and Ian Stannard from Milton Keynes was 18th without registering a score.
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Sean Finning made it three golds out of three for Australia in the velodrome on day two of the Games. Finning won with 137 points and New Zealand’s Hayden Roulston took the silver with 119. Welshman Geraint Thomas snaffled the bronze with 110.
