2023 Track National Championships, Day Five: Spills, Chills, Thrills

 

Speedy Tank and Mac10, team Thunder Thigh Titans, team Fruity Pedals, maybe team Happy Folks on a Coupla Spokes, or the team Golden State Goldie Locks. How about, the Wonton Warriors, the Princess Squad: 1 Small 2 Tall, or DBoyFresh. Then again, maybe you like the Hellyer Horsies, Hellyer Hippos, Hellyer Hampsters or something a little more basic like ESM (Emily, Sylese, Mary). Honestly, just reading some of the team names up on the digital scoreboard made the drive out to Carson worthwhile. With all the funny, funky, fluffy, furry [?] team names out there you might have begun to wonder just where you were. All fun and games aside, and though the Fruity Pedals might give you some pause to wonder, these were the 2023 Track National Championships and serious racing was in the spotlight at the Velo Sports Center, Wednesday through Sunday of last week - July 5th through 9th.

After failing to get out there on Saturday, I had pretty much given up on the idea of witnessing any of the action, but a last minute decision Sunday morning got me out of that funk and on my way. That was a good decision! Sunday morning and afternoon was filled with team events, qualifying and finals in both Pursuit and Sprint races, for Juniors and Elite levels, as well as qualifiers and finals on tandems for the Para-cycling National Championships (Individual races for National Championships were held on earlier days).

Before going any further, let's consider some terminology, since some people reading this may not be versed in track racing. Qualifying and finals are pretty self-explanatory - teams compete in preliminary races with the highest placed advancing to the finals. Sprint races were contested by teams of three riders each, racing for 750 meters (3 laps), and with one rider setting pace then dropping out each lap; Juniors competed with one team on the track at a time, while the Elite races might have two teams starting on opposite sides of the track. Teams of four riders each competed in the Pursuit races for a distance of four kilometers (16 laps). The finish time was taken by the third rider across the line on the final lap, so one rider could drop out and the team still advance, or win. Juniors, again, raced one team at a time, while the Elites raced two teams at a time. Qualifying for the finals meant setting one of the four fastest times; winning in the final could happen one of two ways - lapping the other team, or short of that, setting the fastest time. Pursuits are fun races to watch, because you can eyeball along an imaginary line across the track to see if one team is gaining on the other. In the tandem races, the front rider (pilot) is sighted, while the rear rider is visually impaired.

While all the racing seemed pretty darned fast to me, there were a few in particular that came close to the existing American records. The first of those came during the Para B Men Sprint Qualifying, when Michael Stephens, with pilot Joe Christiansen, from Huntington, West Virginia rode the 200 meters in a time of 10.791 seconds, a little more than half a second short of the record set by Stephens and Thompson (10.235) in 2018. The second came during qualifying for the Elite Men's Team Sprint during which Team Look / Corima rode 750 meters (three laps) in a time of 45.401 seconds, which is 1.37 seconds short of the record set by Koch, Baranoski and Mansker at Mexico City in 2013. The third "near miss" took place during the Elite Men's Team Sprint final, when gold medal winning Look / Corima rode the 750 meters in 45.180 seconds, 1.149 seconds off the record.

A crash marred the gold medal race for the Elite Women's Team Pursuit before the finish of the third kilometer, when a rider for team Golden State Goldie Locks interfered with the progress of team Happy Folks on a Coupla Spokes, causing a crash. At that point the race was over, with the Goldie Locks being relegated. It was one of those things that from the spectating perspective went slow motion, then ended with a sudden wham! Each team of four had siphoned one rider by that time, and as the Happy Folks came charging through a turn, the slower rider from the other team moved into their path with no way to avoid a collision. Only two hit the boards, but it was enough, the race was over, ended by the infraction. That was the one spill on Sunday, but there were plenty more chills and thrills...

What would a race be without speed, and with averages regularly exceeding 60 kph - that is the high 30 mph's for the non-racers who, perhaps, don't dabble in metrics - the wooden oval was afire with speed.

DJHRM - David Domonoske, Anders Johnson, Eddy Huntsman, Brendan Rhim

A blown tire (or was it a rolled tire that came only partly off the rim, I never did find out) during one race, brought gasps, the usual sucking in of air, and cries of Aaaiiiii, from the assemblage of spectators around me. All heads turned as one toward the sudden thunk thunk, thunk, thunk sound coming from the newly distressed wheel. The rider only bobbled for a second before, with a fine display of superior bike handling skills, he gained control and safely guided his bike down the track to the apron. There wasn't a standing ovation, but some did stand, some did cheer, and all contributed to a well-deserved round of applause.

The Para B Men 1/2 Sprint for bronze, pitting Justin Sutton with pilot Erin Young from Florida, against Griffin Pinkow and pilot Rex Ainslie of Tennessee turned into a hotly contested race. In the race, Pinkow and Ainslie got off to a terrific start, but as Sutton and Young worked up to speed, the gap began to close until, along the back stretch, only a hairs width separated the rear wheel of the leaders from the front wheel of the chasers. It looked like they might come out of the final turn neck and neck. The leaders though, did a terrific job of holding to the Black Line and forcing their competitors to take a wider line higher up on the track. Coming out of the final turn, the lead had stretched back out and the chasing pair, conceding, sat up. 

The tandem pair of Stevens and Christiansen (mentioned above) ruled the day, I believe they won each time the wheels began to turn. With quick starts and power that never faltered, they rode their way to gold medals and into national champions jerseys.

I guess you would kind of expect it during National Championship races, but I should point out that the juniors rode exceptionally well together. You could tell they came out with a plan and stuck to it. Speeds were largely well off record setting, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some of these younger riders back at "the Nat's" in a few years' time, racing at the Elite level. 

Waterline #2 - Elliott Davis, Tyler Arnoldi, Keith Grine

DBOYFRESH - Donell Anderson, Padraig Leary, K. Cameron Coleman

The days' racing spun out quite smoothly, the only glitches being the afore-mentioned crash and an earlier relegation, and a false start for the final of the men's team pursuit. When that one happened the crowd started to chant - Eddy, Eddy, Eddy... I guess it is easy to make the youngest guy the scapegoat, and he was just a holder, not even racing. Of course, the fact that Eddy Huntsman is always a crowd favorite at VSC had nothing to do with it, I'm sure.

If I can judge the final day as being comparable to the first four days of racing, the Velo Sports Center staff and volunteers, along with the many USA Cycling officials, should pat one another on the back for a job well done. 

team California Gurlz - Riley Halpern, Lara Mertens, Nora Vik, Eire Chen

team Thunder Thigh Titans - Jayden Li, Jonah Hover, Kashus Adamski, Connell Alford

Michael Stephens, Joe Christiansen

Emily Hayes - (the 'E' of ESM)

Speedy Tank and Mac10 - Keely Ainslie, Kayla Hankins, Mckenna McKee

So, a selection of 173 or so additional photos can be found in the album. Feel free to download anything you see there, or send me a message for a full size file. And there are more where those came from, so if you don't see what you think you should, just ask.

Gary's Gals - David Domonoske, Anders Johnson, Brendan Rhim, Viggo 

Gary's Gals

Joshua Hartman