By John McKee
The weekend of June 8th and 9th and we see the 2013 SCNCA Track Championships being hosted at the Encino Track. Now in Southland California we have the nicest indoor facility in the country at the ADT track in Carson and the Encino track is "modest" at best but I understand the need to move the championship around. Only fair to the riders that train at this track. Long drive for most riders in Socal but that could be said for any criterium or road race that we do.
On Saturday the time trials were scheduled. Both individual and team. Sunday saw the sprint events including the group scratch and points races. I have not done many track events and it makes for a VERY long day when you consider how long you race and how long you "hang out". You just have to get use to that.
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| Yours truly with Kurt "Legs a Blur" Sato |
In 55+ racing and over which is what I am covering saw some very good performances. Jay Wolkoff was the most outstanding all around performer. Jay dominated in the 500, 2k, 3 man team sprint, the flying 200 and the match sprints. Jay didn't win the group scratch race but you have to cut him some slack after doing all those events prior to that. Jay even beat one of the fastest 55+ men I have seen on a bike and that is Kurt Sato. To Kurt the 500 is an endurance event but for a short distance Kurt is really really fast. Kurt can hit 42 mph in training coming off a motor at the ADT track.
There were many other fine performances by 55+ men and women. I will try and mention or show in pictures as many of the racers as I can. Let's start with the 500 meter TT. The best performance here was by a young lady by the name of Bonnie Woodbury. I don't know the person but her time for her age was amazing! She raced 70-74 and her time was 44.00. Jay's time was outstanding considering the track and the fact that it is outdoors. Jay time was 36.34 but considering Bonnie's age I say her performance was the best.
In the team sprint it was no surprise that the team of Wolkoff, Sato and Patrick won the team sprint in 55+ by over 5 seconds. In 65+ there was something going on here that I really didn't like. A friend of mind had been offered a spot on a 3 man sprint team from San Diego to fill in for a teammate that had a medical condition. 15 minutes before he was to race he was told that he was being replaced. Wow. How important is it to win anyway and they did win when they brought in a world record holder. I was told the replacement was a better fit. OK. Enough here.
In the 2k TT Bonnie Woodbury turned in another really fine performance at 3:09.52 to win W 70-74. Also winning were Pat Riddle(W65-69), Jan Palchikoff(W60-64), Lynette Rock(W55-59), James Kloss(M70-74), Mike Duck(M65-69), Keith Peters(M60-64), and Jay Wolkoff(M55-59).
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| Jay Wolkoff in action at the Encino Track |
The last event on Saturday for 55+ racers was the team pursuit. There was one team only for 65+ and 55+. The 65+ team included Mike Duck, Bruce Steele, Alan Wignall and myself. The time wasn't that great but gold none the less. The 55+ team that won was Dan Rock, Robert Kaplan, Andrew Mirzaoff and Keith Peters.
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| Some of the fine women racers at the Encino Track |
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| James Kloss atop the podium in the 500 meter TT. You can see the world champ strips on his kit. |
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| Mike Duck atop the podium in the 500 meter event. |
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| The 55+ team sprint team of Jay Wolkoff, Kurt Sato and Mike Patrick- Very good time! |
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| Mike Patrick atop the podium for the 500 meter TT- Mike had hip surgery 10 weeks prior! |
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| He's at the top AGAIN! |
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| 3 of the members of the 65+ pursuit team-Steele, McKee and Wignall. Mike Duck not shown. |
Sunday saw a different type of racing. More speed involved here. In women's only sprint event racing over 55+ Bonnie Woodruff won the women's match sprint. She had quiet a weekend of racing.
In men's sprints these men won: James Kloss showed his world record form and won the 65+ category over Ray Lafleur. Mike Patrick won the 60-64 category. Jay Wolkoff beat Kurt Sato in 55-59 in the match sprint and had the lowest 200 meter qualifying time. Very impressive to beat Kurt.
Sunday afternoon saw the group races on the track at Encino. In 60+ Henry Shibata won the scratch race. In 55-59 you saw what could have been a criterium podium with team Swami's crowding everyone else out. Eugene Poyorena won the race being a lap up on the field. Criterium speedsters Mike Birditt and Dale Luedtke filled out the podium.
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Scratch race
55-59 podium- Birditt, Poyorena and Luedtke |
In the 55+ points race Mike Birditt took the gold to finish out a great afternoon of track racing. There were a lot of great performances over the 2 days of racing. I enjoyed my day on Saturday though it was a really really long experience. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!
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