Day 4 report: Shane Perkins and Steph Morton with final night keiran victories

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On the final night of the 2014 Subaru Cycling Australia Track National Championships, Victoria's Shane Perkins and South Australia's Steph Morton prevailed to claim the men's and women's keirin finals while Glenn O'Shea (SA) dominated the men's points race and Annette Edmondson (SA) continued her dominance in the endurance events with victory in the women's scratch race.

Men's Keirin
Gold Shane Perkins (VIC), Silver Jacob Schmid (VIC), Bronze Daniel Ellis (SA)
A superb men's keirin final featured 2011 keirin world champion Perkins (VIC), 2013 sprint champion Mitch Bullen (NSW), 2012 champion Matthew Glaetzer (SA), defending champion Andrew Taylor (NSW), Beijing Olympian Daniel Ellis (SA) and young gun Jacob Schmid (VIC). Glaetzer made the first move from fourth wheel as the derny left the track, with Daniel Ellis hot on his wheel.

Ellis led the group at the bell lap, before a burst from Perkins on the back straight saw him take the lead.

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Shrugging off the back injury that forced him to withdraw from Friday night's sprint final, Perkins powered around the final bend and with a final pulse to the line was enough to take the win ahead of Schmid and Ellis.

"I just put my head down and my back in the back of my mind, forgot about it and had a crack. Sure enough, I got the win and I'm very happy," said Perkins after adding his third national keirin title, moving his career tally to nine senior national titles.

"The other day I had my back against the wall – no pun intended – and I wanted to go out there and see what I could do. The guys are in great form, all you have to do is look at the heats earlier in the night, we had guys riding 10.3, so you knew it was going to be on (in the final).

Women's Keirin
Gold Steph Morton (SA), silver Anna Meares (SA), bronze Caitlin Ward (VIC)
After claiming the 2013 keirin title in Meares' absence from the Championships, Steph Morton (SA) has proven she can match it with the two-time keirin world champion with a resounding win in the keirin final.

Caitlin Ward (VIC) secured front position behind the derny, with Meares sitting in fourth wheel and Morton on her tail in fifth. Meares attacked with one and half laps remaining and at the bell, it appeared she was going to storm away with her sixth keirin national title. However Morton was hot on her tail and in front of a divided Adelaide crowd, she reeled in Meares with a powerful burst on the final run to the line to record a memorable victory.

"To do this on my home track in front of the family means a lot and Sir Chris Hoy is here and who doesn't want to impress him," said Morton.

The win was Morton's first against Meares in an Australian National Championships, although she did get the better of her in a series of Grand Prix races in Germany in mid-2013.

"To come away with a win is just really cool, Anna's my idol," lauded Morton. "She's the pinnacle of what I think an elite cyclist should be and just to race against her is awesome.

"I might get one over her and then she'll win the next ten, but Rome wasn't built in a day so I just keep picking away little bit by little bit and slowly try and draw in that gap.

A respectful Meares had nothing but praise for Morton. "She's been working hard and learning a lot and funnily enough I gave her some advice after the first round, I was wondering if it would come back to bite me, and it did," said the five-time national keirin champion Meares.

"But I'm not taking that away from Steph. (It was) a big national title, a big hard race. That was a cranking time, a quality ride from a quality rider," added Meares.

Men's 40km Points Race
Gold Glenn O'Shea (SA), silver Jack Bobridge (SA), bronze Trent Derecourt (WA)
Glenn O'Shea's (SA) victory in the men's 40km points race provided a near perfect ending to the Championships. The 160-lap race began with the first three sprints contested as a bunch, before the attacks began. Two-time points champion Jack Bobridge (SA) was the first to attack, quickly lapping the field, with the attacks from Bobridge and O'Shea continuing to rain down on the field.

By the half-way point, O'Shea had amassed a whopping total of 80 points, a total that most riders would like to have accumulated at the conclusion of the race.

Sensing that the title was moving out of reach, Bobridge attacked and quickly gained another lap, before O'Shea made a solo counter attack which negated the advantage. The race was marred by a touch of wheels that brought down Scott Law and George Tansley which forced Law to abandon.

The laps continued to come from the main bunch, with Trent Derecourt (WA) taking a late lap to move up to third overall and showing no signs of injury following the crash, Tansley gritted his teeth and took the final sprint honours. O'Shea took six laps on the field and finished with an amazing 151pts. Bobridge claimed silver on 123pts, with Derecourt taking the bronze on 82pts.

"That was really hard, it was alright for the first 10 laps and then after that it was just a 'grobble'," said O'Shea after securing his second career points title in a comeback from an injury in 2013. "At the start I took my moments got away and got some laps and had them chasing me for the rest of the event.

"Late in the race I managed to get that lap up and then we (Jack Bobridge) just had to limp round together a bit and I just had to follow him which isn't easy in the last fifteen laps.

"Because we were putting the hammer down, I was hurting a lot, but I knew if I could just hang in there, I could take the gold medal."

Women's 10km Scratch Race
Gold Annette Edmondson (SA), silver Beth Duryea (VIC), bronze Isabella King (WA).
After her clinical display that nabbed victory in the points race, Annette Edmondson (SA) was at it again in the scratch race final. The race was littered with attacks, although Edmondson ensured none stuck before she took control in the final lap, sprinting to the line to take the win and her third consecutive scratch title. Beth Duryea (VIC) and 2012 scratch champion Isabella King (WA) rounded out the podium.

"Anything can happen in the scratch race and a few of them tried to throw a few things at me but I managed to cover it," explained Edmondson.

"After yesterday, I knew my legs were good at the sprinting side of things, so I just thought it would be easier if I could shut them down as fast as possible and just get straight on the wheel.

"So luckily I managed to get on to most of the attacks and thanks to the girls for making it hard," added Edmondson, who finished the Championships with four medals, including two gold, one silver and one bronze which secured her the Elite Champion of Champions. "I'd just like to say thanks to Cycling South Australia for their support and help this week, it's been brilliant."

In the under 19 events, Victoria's Courtney Field and Braeden Dean continued their medal hauls, with the pair combining to take six gold between them during the four day Championships. Sixteen-year-old Field set an Australian Championship record in the morning's qualifying session and continued her form through to the final against Queensland's Sheridan Spark.

In the final, Field took the win in two straight heats to claim her fifth consecutive national title in the event after taking four titles in the under 15 and 17 categories.

It was Field's third gold of the Championships following her win in the time trial and keirin, for which she was awarded the Under 19

Champion of Champions.
Dean claimed his third gold medal of the Championships after leading Victoria to victory in the under 19 men's team sprint. In a nail-biting final which saw a team from each rider hit the deck, the Victorian trio of Dean, Jay Castles and John Cochrane crossed the line in 46.350secs, narrowly ahead of Christopher Bryan, Bradley Heap and Max Housden (46.845).

In the bronze medal final, South Australia's Matthew Holmes, Alexander Porter and Derek Radzikiewicz (47.329) defeated New South Wales Harrison Carter, Carsten Chapman and Jack Edwards (47.518).

Perpetual Trophies
• Elite Champion of Champions – Annette Edmondson (SA)
• Under 19 Champion of Champions - Courtney Field (VIC)
• Robina Joy Trophy (best performed state in the elite men's events) –New South Wales
• Ride of the Series - Matthew Glaetzer (SA)
• Southcott Cup - South Australia
• WJ Bill Young Trophy - Victoria