Grace and Hensen dominate cycling sprints

Auckland's Justin Grace won the men's sprint title with a dominating performance in the national track cycling championships in Invercargill last night.

Grace beat Canterbury's Adam Stewart 2-0 in the best of three races final.

In the semifinals, Stewart had caused an upset by beating national kilo record holder Eddie Dawkins in the decider after each had won a race.

Natasha Hansen proved too strong for fellow Cantabrian and national representative, Jos Rastrick, in the finals of the women's sprint, winning in two straight races.

Auckland's Aaron Gate provided another highlight when he set a new record in the under-19 men's scratch race final.

Gates timed a brilliant nine minutes 25.163sec for the 8km ride.

Today's key events are the individual medley for men and women, featuring Beijing Olympics hopefuls Marc Ryan and Alison Shanks.

Elite events results, day 2:

Men's sprint : Final – Justin Grace (Auckland) bt Adam Stewart (Canterbury) 2-0. Semifinals – Grace bt Matt Fox (Canterbury) 2-0, Stewart bt Eddie Dawkins (Southland) 2-1.

Women's sprint: Final – Natasha Hensen (Canterbury) bt Jos Rastrick (Cantervury) 2-0.

- NZPA