Panamerican Track Championships

Canadians are sporting the red and white kits on a very fast track in Aguascalientes.

The second day of competition had the Canadians competing in four events on the track. Joseph Veloce and Stephane Cossette competed in the Keirin. Veloce advanced to the second round winning his heat while Cossette blew his second tire of the meet and had to go through the repechage. He was third in his rep but the Canadian coach successfully filed a protest as the Argentinean rider passed the derny; so a re-ride was contested at the start of the afternoon session, but the result was the same for Cossette. Veloce raced in the second round where some very dodgy riding by several riders prevented the Canadian from moving in to the final and raced in the 7-12 final where he rode a smart ride to claim 8th.

Remi Pelltier-Roy, excited to be competing in his first international track race, and Mark MacDonald contested the men’s 15 kilometer scratch race final. Pelltier-Roy commented “this was the fastest race I have ever done”, but he handled himself admirably, getting in a few moves to finish 15th.

Monique Sullivan, Laura Brown, and Steph Roorda qualified fourth in the morning for the Women’s Team Pursuit, in a time of 3:29.8, and faced Colombia in the bronze medal match. Sullivan was transformed into an endurance rider for the day and put in an excellent ride in the morning qualifier and in the bronze medal final. The Canadians could not match the Colombians speed, but did post a faster ride of 4:29.2 to claim fourth place.

On May 13th Canadians are racing in:
Kilo: Travis Smith and Stephane Cossette
Sprint: Monique Sullivan
Team Pursuit: Mark MacDonald, Daniele Defranceschi, Jean-Michel Lachance, Remi Pelltier-Roy
Scratch Race: Laura Brown and Steph Roorda