After record-breaking efforts in morning qualifying, the big guns came out to play with some brilliant performances in the individual sprints on the second day of the national track championships in Cambridge.
Southland's Natasha Hansen was in imperious form throughout the competition, toppling Olivia Podmore 2-0 in the semifinal and dominating defending champion Stephanie Mckenzie in two straight rides in the final.
Earlier, Hansen broke the New Zealand record in qualifying to add to the record set on her way to winning the 500m time trial on the opening night.
‘‘That was really pleasing to win. The girls on the world scene are going extremely fast so I was chasing the clock as well as focusing on the win tonight,'' Hansen said.
‘‘So I'm happy to win the title and also really pleased with the times I've achieved tonight as well. I am definitely tracking in the right direction but there's more to do.''
Commonwealth Games champion Sam Webster showed his speed and sense to hold off Eddie Dawkins 2-0 in the men's final in a repeat of last year when he prevailed in the deciding ride. Earlier, Webster was equally impressive in beating Matt Archibald in two straight rides in the semifinal.
Dawkins showed his raw speed to set a championship record in the flying 200m qualifying, timed at 9.901sec, with Webster just 0.01sec behind in a personal-best on this sized track. Dawkins' time was 0.15sec inside the previous championship record set by Webster two years ago.
The other major improver was specialist team sprint starter Ethan Mitchell, who set a personal-best 10.069sec in qualifying, and pushed Dawkins to two photo-finish rides in the semifinal before holding off world championship time trial medallist Archibald for the bronze in two rides.
‘‘After the personal disappointment of missing out on London, my goal was to win all four sprint titles before Rio. To achieve that goal I can finally get that monkey off my back,'' Webster said.‘‘It is a huge, huge confidence boost for me.''
Sprint coach Anthony Peden said he was pleased with the performances thus far from his senior riders.
‘‘We are less than a month away from the world championships so, of course, we expect to be doing best times,'' Peden said.
‘‘The riders have really stood up with a bundle of best times in qualifying and some excellent performances in their match racing.
‘‘I expect that from Eddie and Sam, but I've been impressed with the progression shown by Ethan Mitchell and Natasha Hansen who have worked very hard in the recent months to become truly world-class in their sprint times.''
Waikato's Raquel Sheath put her hand up for higher honours in winning the women's 20km points race with 20 points ahead of the experienced trio of Lauren Ellis 16, Rushlee Buchanan and Jaime Nielsen, both 15.
World champion team pursuiter Alex Frame managed the best sprint to outlast Hayden Roulston to win the men's scratch race, while Aaron Gate recovered from a crash to finish third.
