TREXLERTOWN, PENN. JULY 11, 2018— On the fifth day of the combined 2018 USA Cycling Juniors and Masters Track National Championships we saw the final event for the Juniors take place, and two dozen masters national titles awarded.
Catherine Moore (Denton, Texas/Matrix Cycling Club) repeated her performance from last year, capturing the top step of the women’ 45-49 individual pursuit in a time of 2:33.256. Echoing Ms. Moore’s efforts, Steve Lehman (Rock Hill, S.C./Charlotte Cycling Consortium) also repeated from his win last year, claiming the men’s 70-74 title with a time of 2:40.361. The men’s 75-79 was won in a time of 2:58.947 by Rob Lea (Taneytown, Md./Sports T.E.A.M.), father of track cycling Olympian Bobby Lea. David Ellefson (Banner Elk, N.C./ took home the stars-and-stripes for the men’s 80-84 individual pursuit. 90-year-old Carl Grove (Bristol, Ind./Pista Elite) is our oldest competitor at this event and finished his pursuit in a time 3:06.129.
In the Juniors final event, Sophia Shuhay (New Tripoli, Penn./Star Track Racing) won the women’s 15-18 500m time trial in a time of 37.513. 15-year-old Ethan Swaidner (Colorado Springs, Colo./Front Rangers Junior Cycling) showed the older men how to do the kilometer time trial, winning the men's 15-18 event in 1:09.749, a tenth of a second in front of second.
On the masters’ side, Tracey Jones-Martin (Houston, Texas. /Shama Cycles) took the women’s 40-44 title. Kieran Leahy (Brooklyn, N.Y.) completed the men’s 35-39 1 km time trial in a time of 1:09.250 which set the gold standard. For the men’s 65-69 500m time trial, Daniel Kiningham (Little Silver, N.J./Sprinter’s Edge Track Development Team) took the top step of the podium.
Daniel Casper (Lauderdale, Minn./Donkey Label) was the only rider able to lap the field in the men’s 50-54 points race, ensuring he repeated his victory from this same event last year. Elizabeth Heller (St. Louis/Maplewood Bicycle St. Louis) was the points leader in the women’s 55+ points race and was therefore the winner her age group of 60-64 with 24 points total.
Current defending women’s 50-54 criterium national champion Kim Petit (Tulsa, Okla.) showed she was a multi-discipline phenomenon buy taking gold in the scratch race as well. On the men’s side, Robert Black (York, S.C.) reached the top step of the podium in the men’s 60-64 scratch race. And in the men’s 55-59 race, Chris Carlson (McKinney, Texas/Matrix Cycling Club) bested a talented pack of riders to take home the stars-and-stripes.
Sarah Fader (Boulder, Colo./ Hammer Racing Team p/b Thorne) made her Masters Track National Championships debut, by winning gold in the women’s 35-39 sprints. Ethan Boyes (San Francisco/JAKROO) won the men’s 40-44 sprints.
Racing continues on Thursday for the Masters National Championships. You can follow the action on USA Cycling’s @usacyclinglive Twitter account as well as the @usacycling Instagram account, and follow along with others posts by using the hashtag #TrackNats.
