CYCLING
Danny Gafa took out the 2014 Latrobe City Cycling Club track Sprint Championship last Monday afternoon.
In windy conditions each rider set a flying 200-metre qualifying time to gain a seeding.
Gafa was fastest qualifier in a time of 13.15 seconds, followed by eventual silver and bronze medallists Wayne Collins (13.29) and Craig Skinner (13.65) respectively.
Next came Chris Henne (14.06), Fred De Costa (14.32), John Kirk (14.81), Paul Makepeace (15.10) and Wayne Tunks (15.94).
Once seeded, riders were matched off in qualifying rounds of one-on-one sprints that saw Gafa defeat Tunks, Collins too strong for Makepeace, Skinner defeat Kirk and Henne defeat De Costa with the losers eliminated.
In the first semi-final, Gafa caught Henne napping and was never headed, while in the second semi Collins took Skinner by surprise when he headed for home at the 250m mark.
Skinner put the foot down to bridge the gap but Collins timed it perfectly to proceed to the final.
The finals was a best of three race format and the first saw Gafa get the jump and hold it to the finish.
Collins changed tack in race two, diving up the inside with 400m to go, but Gafa was quick to respond, jumping on his wheel and surging past to take the gold medal.
Results
Gold – Danny Gafa
Silver – Wayne Collins
Bronze – Craig Skinner
4th – Chris Henne
5th – Paul Makepeace
6th – Wayne Tunks
Junior 200m Sprint
Bryce Nightingale – Gold (20.60)
Drew Makepeace – Silver (20.66)
Boyd Makepeace – Bronze (20.87)
