Last weekend Jason Kierman competed for the first time at the LVRC Track Championships at Newport. There are 5 track events, of which the top 3 results count towards the overall championship winner.
First race was the 200m sprint qualifying where Jason qualified fastest with a 12.19 sec time meaning he progressed to Round 1 to meet the slowest qualifying ride. An easy victory put him into the semi-final against a true track sprinter from BlackLine coaching, but a 2.5 lap solo effort catching him off-guard saw him through to the final. Leading the final from the front, Jason kept his opponent on his hip for a relatively comfortable victory and first gold medal.
Second race was the points race where Jason finished in 2nd place, one of only 3 riders to gain a lap and even though he had more sprint points, another rider had gained an early lap and despite his best efforts he ran out of time to overhaul his points tally but finished with nearly double the points of third place.
After tactically missing the Pursuit, despite a very poor standing start, Jason gained a 4th place just 0.012 seconds off silver (it was that tight between 2nd and 4th), to head the overall going into the 15km final scratch race.
Jason only needed to finish ahead of one rider, Jeremy Pile, to win the LVRC overall track championship title and despite a few riders attacking in the closing laps he kept him at bay and put distance into him on the final 2 laps, almost closing the gaps to the actual race leaders but finishing with another 4th place finish.
Photos courtesy of www.charleswhittonphotography.
