by MIKE KING

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO'S exciting teenager Haseem McLean provided further proof of his blazing speed on wheels with an emphatic capture of the match sprint in the Independence cycling meeting at the National Stadium yesterday.

McLean, 19, the No.3 man in the sprint in Trinidad, beat compatriot Ako Kellar in both rides in the final, dictating the opening ride and storming from behind to clinch the second sprint.

"It was good testing competition. Kellar is an experienced rider, so it
was not easy by any means. It is good to be here in Barbados and this meet would have been useful," McLean said.

Barbados' most promising young rider, Quincy Jones, took the bronze medal. Jones, who turned 18 on Wednesday, lost to McLean in the sudden death (one ride) semi-finals. Kellar won the other semi-final from this country's leading road rider, Philip Clarke.

Jones, a bronze medallist in the keirin
at this year's Junior
Pan-American Cycling Championships in Venezuela, easily swept aside Clarke in the third place ride-off.

Before an audience that included this country's first outstanding cyclist, Ken Farnum, an Olympian of the 1952 Games in Helsinki, and former top road rider, Vasco "The Iron Man" Welch, Jones came back
to win the 1 000 metres (two laps around the track), from Clarke with McLean third.

United States-based Farnum, 75, the first Caribbean rider to compete at the Olympics and a national champion while still at school, presented the trophies for the match sprint.

Good feeling

"It's great to be back and I intend to try and come back at least once every two years and enjoy the country and my people. This is the first time I have watched cycling here at the National Stadium and the feeling is good,"
he said.

Jamal Clarke took a tumble and sustained several bruises en route
to winning the the 2000 metres for juniors and masters. Shane Weekes was second with Lindell Brooks of Tobago, third.

Brooks was the fastest on show in the 1 000 metres for juniors and the king of the sprints in this category ahead of Dwayne Bellamy and Clarke.

Javed Mounter was too much for the other tiny mites in the match sprint. Jamol Eastmond was second and Che Pile, third.

The quickest juvenile in the sprints was Rashad Weekes, clear of Alex Yearwood and Adam Crebbin.

BMX racing has a new wave of appeal and Ajani Miller, Kristin Vanderpool, Onell O'neale, and Tremaine Hull, all made their mark. Vanderpool, a student at Erdiston Primary, collected three golds and one silver in the 10-12 age group; O'Neale, a St Cyprians schoolboy, took two silvers and one bronze in the six-to-nine age group; and Miller clinched a silver and
a bronze in the same
age group.

There was an exciting close to the 500 metres in the six-to-nine age group, with Hull nosing out
a fast finishing O'Neale
on the line.