South Australians shine on day one of Omnium track nationals

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South Australia's Luke Davison narrowly leads the men's omnium over SASI teammate and world champion Glen O'Shea while Annette Edmondson (SA) leads the women's standings after three rounds of the 2013 Cycling Australia Omnium National Championships at Melbourne's DISC Velodrome.

Davison (4pts) leads O'Shea (5pts) by one point after the 21-year-old claimed the opening round's flying lap and round three's elimination. West Australian Stephen Hall currently sits in third position on 14 points.

Despite a personal best time of 13.028 seconds for O'Shea, Davison managed to pip his rival for the win being the only rider to break the 13-second barrier in the flying lap, recording 12.937 for the 500m distance.

However the champion showed his class in round two's points race finishing on 49 points over Davison (39 points) and Alex Morgan (VIC) on 34 points.

A mid-race break of four established including Stephen Hall (WA), Peter Loft (TAS) and Alex Morgan (VIC) with O'Shea seeing the benefit of being involved.

The South Australian put in a huge effort to close the gap while Hall claimed the sprint lap.

Davison wouldn't be left behind and once the National Road Series champion joined the group, it wasn't long before the break lapped the main field and earned 20 bonus points each, ensuring O'Shea was well out of reach from the main field.

"In the points race Glen showed he is very capable and a very classy rider - he is the best omnium rider in the world and is showing some very good form so I will need to recover well and come out firing for tomorrow's races," Davison explained.

O'Shea wasn't deterred by being behind after three rounds saying he was enjoying the inter-team rivalry.

"I have been working really hard for the points race and I was really determined to come out and have a red hot crack at it," O'Shea said following his round two win.

"I think I showed a bit of dominance after that round which I was really happy with.

"Luke and I are going head to head which is goof fun actually. It's good to have someone to really push you to your limits," O'Shea remarked.

Similarly Davison said despite the pair preparing to contest the Madison together on Saturday night, the SASI teammates did not train together.

"We respect each other and I think that rivalry makes things interesting," Davison said.

In the women's omnium it was South Australia's Annette Edmondson who continued her recent sizzling form, claiming all three events on day one of the championships.

Edmondson leads the standing after three rounds on 3 points to Isabella King (WA) on 7 and Amy Cure (TAS) 10 points.

Edmondson recorded a personal best time for round ones flying lap posting the only sub 14-second ride of the day in the women's event with 13.965. The 2012 omnium world silver and Olympic bronze medallist finish half a second ahead of West Australia's Isabella King (14.458) with fellow London Olympian Amy Cure (14.623), in third.

Edmondson also claimed the second and third rounds, finishing the points race with 35 points, 10 ahead of ACT's Rebecca Wiasak (25 points) and 15 over West Australia's Isabella King (20 points).

Wiasak challenged the reigning Oceania champion, lapping the field after winning the third sprint, allowing the 28-year-old to claim a bonus 20 points.

However it was not enough to hold off 21-year-old Edmondson, the South Australian dominating all other sprints to seal the win.

Edmondson clinched the elimination win over Isabella King, second and Amy Cure third.

"I was lucky I didn't get pipped with about five riders to go and I really switched on for the rest of the race," Edmondson said following her round three win.

"I have got some great competition here with Bella King who is hot on my heels and Amy Cure and a few juniors performing well so I really want to cement another win here like I did at the Oceania champs.

"The challenge going into tomorrow will be to keep switched on heading into the final three races," Edmondson concluded.

In the under 19 omniums, Victoria's Zac Shaw was on equal points to 16 year-old Jack Edwards (NSW) in the men's event, both riders on three points heading into round three's elimination.

Earlier in the day, Shaw had won round one's flying lap in 13.164 seconds over Edwards on 13.504 and Josh Harrison (SA) on 13.720.

Edwards took it to the junior world time trial champion winning the points race after securing three sprints, finishing with 19 points over Shaw on 10 and Sam Welsford (WA) on 7.

However the Victorian failed to fire when it came to the crunch, being eliminated first in round three's elimination, allowing Edwards to claim victory over Theodore Yates (WA) and Josh Harrison (SA).

Josie Talbot (NSW) leads the under 19 women's omnium after round three following her win in round two's points race.

Talbot convincingly took out the points race with 13 points over South Australia's Alex Manly (7 points) and Tasmania's Lauren Perry (7 points).

West Australia's Emily McRedmond (14.888) took out round one's flying lap with Talbot finishing second (14.960) and West Australia's Elissa Wundersitz (15.050) while Wundersitz clinched round three's elimination over Alex Manly (SA) and Talbot.

The final three events of the omnium - pursuit, scratch and time trial - will be held on Friday.

Results