Hoy and Pendleton ride to Keirin wins

Image 1 of 13

Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton claimed a clean sweep as they were victorious in their respective keirin championships. The crowd was also treated to a test ride from the Team GB Pursuit riders, Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Geraint Thomas and Ben Swift, who showed their intent ahead of next weekend's World Cup with an impressive time of 4:01.784.

Men's Keirin Championship

Chris Hoy grabbed yet another gold in the men's keirin but the final was far from easy, with pressure from Jason Kenny and Christian Lyte, who won silver and bronze respectively.

Hoy looked to have pulled away from the field but Kenny came through in the last race to give the Olympic keirin champion a scare. Kenny himself had the added task of battling with Lyte and reigning champion Matthew Crampton.

Hoy came through the fastest semi final heat, along with Jason Kenny and Christian Lyte while the second heat was exciting.

After a first corner crash involving Daniell and Mitchell, they both fought out for the final qualification spot when the race had restarted. In the end it was Daniell who joined Crampton and Edgar in the final.

Hoy, Crampton and Edgar all eased to victory in their qualification races, Crampton setting the quickest time of 10.389 seconds. The final heat was closer, with Peter Mitchell and Jason Kenny also qualifying.

Chris Pritchard crashed during his qualification heat, losing his front wheel in the process, but recovered in time to qualify from the second repechage ahead of 16 year old John Paul.

Hoy acknowledged the fight his fellow competitors put up, saying, "I would rank that as one of my hardest ever keirins, it just goes to show the strength we have at the moment in Britain. I had to give it everything I had, I was really hanging on by the skin of my teeth."

Kenny, who ran the Scot so close, said, "I nearly got caught out with one to go, Matt came really hard and that messed my run up towards Chris, I was teeing him up the whole race to pass but it never came off."

Women's Keirin Championship

Victoria Pendleton also had a tough final as she sprinted her way to a third medal of the championships beating Rebecca James (silver) and Helen Scott (bronze) on the line.

Cheryl Owens was the first to attack, before Halesowen A & CC team mates Scott and Varnish followed but Pendleton showed her strength to overhaul all of her opponents.

Pendleton (12.270) was always in control of her qualification heat and Scott went with her and pulled away from the rest of the field to make the final.

Varnish and James timed their heat to perfection after seeing Charline Joiner make her move as soon as the motorcycle pulled in with two and a half laps remaining.The two more experienced racers had timed their race well, though, and came through to take the heat while Joiner and Birkmyre needed the repecharge to progress to the final.

The Team Sky+ HD rider said, "My form has been really good this week and I am looking forward to the World Cup now. I was a bit anxious about it but I have gone a good two seconds faster in my time trial than I expected."

Men's Team Pursuit Championship

Planet X overcame reigning champions Agiskoviner in an exciting final which swung back and forth in momentum.

Agiskoviner, comprising Jack Kirk, John McClelland, Jon Mould and James Holland-Leader, lookied to have taken the early advantage but their opponents pegged them back around halfway.

Sam Harrison, Andrew Magnier, Steve Clayton and Boyd Roberts kept their composure and got their noses in front and powered through to take gold in a time of 4:27.796, a margin of almost two seconds.

VC St Raphael (Ben Elliott, Jack Green, Alan Peet and Chris Bush) claimed the bronze medal, squeezing out opponents Scunthorpe Poly (John Brearley, Anthony Nash, Jamie Rodgers and Paul Barber).

Women's 20km Madison

Alexandra Greenfield (100% ME) and Dani King (Vision 1 Racing) won the gold medal in the women's 20km Madison in a fairly uneventful race.

It was a tightly fought encounter as Corrine Hall (Team Corridori) and Hannah Barnes (BC PM) took the first and final sprints and pushed the champions all the way but came away with silver. Hannah Mayho (100% ME) and Laura Trott (VC Londres) grabbed bronze.

In the end, though, Greenfield and King were successful as just four teams finished the race, G.S Sarosa's pairing of Katie Fearnehough and Hannah Walker retiring after the penultimate sprint.

The victors were happy with their performance and Greenfield said, "There weren't many of us out there for an 80-lap race, five teams, but we still went out there focussed and we came out with a win so we are pleased."

King then added, "We went in with a gameplan which worked, Alex stayed in and I went for the sprints and won two out of the four so it was good."

Other Madisons

Meanwhile Jonathon Dibben (dhcyclesport.co.uk) and Jim Lewis (Glendene CC) won the gold madal in the under 16 male Madison with an impressive ride. Silver went to Stephen Bradbury (Palmer Park Velo) & Charlie Hefferman (VC Jubilee) and bronze to Matthew Rotherham (Sport City Velo) & Dan Whelan (Probikekit.com).

George Atkins (Websters Cycles) and Daniel McLay (Hargroves Cycles) won gold in the junior male 20km Madison, amassing 20 points to beat their nearest rivals by seven. Jon Mould (Agiskoviner) and Chris Whorrall (Team Manx Telecom) grabbed silver while bronze went to the pairing of Adam Yates and Simon Yates of Maxgear RT.

Brief Results