MN Match Sprint Championships

Men's Podium (L-R): Mike Hall - 2nd, Chris Ferris - 1st, Jordan Cullen - 3rd
Women's Podium (L-R): Sarah Huang - 2nd, Linsey Hamilton - 1st, Teresa Moriarty - 3rd

Chris Ferris (PJW racing) and Linsey Hamilton (Synergy) both retained their MN State Match Sprint Championships. Both riders proved to be unbeatable, each having the fastest flying 200m for their field, and neither of them losing a race all night.

The men's semi-final match-ups were defending champ Ferris vs. 16 year-old Jordan Cullen (MBRC/Flanders), and a heavyweight bout between Mike Hall (Behind Bars/LGR) vs. Ted Schmid (SpeedFix). Ferris and Cullen showed off their trackstand ability, having to be whistled off after a 30sec standoff. Ferris was forced to use the afterburners against Cullen's junior gear restricted, fast spinning legs, prevailing in 2 races, and taking the match. Schmid and Hall were the match-up of the night. Both savvy veterans of the event, they pushed each other hard, splitting the first 2 races, forcing a 3rd. In 3rd race, Hall opened up the sprint first, with Schmid getting to his wheel, but not having enough to come around. Hall moved on to the Gold Medal round against Ferris, with Cullen and Schmid racing for Bronze.

In the Bronze medal match, Cullen took advantage of the fact that Schmid was tired from a hard fought battle with Hall, going hard right from the start. Schmid got onto young Cullen's wheel, but Cullen persisted with a insane pace, even accelerating at the bell to drop Schmid. More of the same in the 2nd race, with Cullen taking the match.

In the Gold Medal match, Ferris had the upper hand against a battle weary Hall, but there were to be no gifts this night. The first race was a close one, with Ferris jumping Hall from behind. Hall did his best to hold the sprinters lane, but the Ferris afterburners were too much. First race to Ferris. In the 2nd race, Hall tried jumping first, and pulled away briefly, only to have Ferris come over in the backstretch for an easy victory.

The women did a round robin format to determine the final match-ups. The Gold Medal round was between defending champ Linsey Hamilton and 16 year-old Sarah Huang (ISCorp). The Bronze Medal round was between Teresa Moriarty (MBRC/Flanders) and Megan Kelly (Omnium). Kelly rode impressively against heavily favored Moriarty, but Teresa prevailed, winning the match in 2 races. The Gold Medal round was a good one. In race 1, a tactically savvy Hamilton kept young Huang on her right hip, preventing her from taking the sprinters lane, taking the easy win. Race 2 was much closer, with Huang following in Hamilton's slip stream. Huang attempted to come around in the final turn, but Hamilton was able to hold on to win race 2, and retain her state championship title for another year.

Mike Pribble was the winner of the Men's Cat 4/5 title.