Van Haute’s Strategy Pays Off; He Wins Points Race by Lapping Field

Falling back on the same strategy that he used to win the Olympic trials, Danny Van Haute lapped the field midway through the race and held on to win the points race of the 7-Eleven/Bicycling Magazine Grand Prix at the Velodrome at Cal State Dominguez Hills Sunday afternoon.

In the final event of the day, in front of a crowd estimated at 2,500, Van Haute, 27, a three-time member of the Olympic team, won the 40-kilometer (120-lap) race by gambling that he could be strong enough and last long enough to lap the field with 80 laps to go and stay a lap up the rest of the way.

The points race combines sprint skills with endurance strength by awarding points to the top four riders every five laps over that grueling distance. It is the only race run with all the competitors on the track at the same time, drafting in packs and jockeying for position. Sunday’s points race started with almost 50 riders.

One way to win the race is to accumulate the most sprint points. The other way is to gain a lap on the field.

Van Haute took the other way. “I chose that strategy because I haven’t started working too much on my speed work yet this season,” he said. “I’ve been doing all endurance training.”

Van Haute, of University City, Calif., tried three times to get that lap advantage before he was finally able to get by. “It usually does take three attacks or more before you make it,” he said.

Frank Andreau of Canada also gained a lap on the field, which helped Van Haute because the two of them were able to ride together--taking turns leading and drafting.

The start of the points race was delayed by a wreck on the first parade lap involving five cyclists. At the same spot on the track where, twice, women racing for the fifth through eighth places in the match sprint had gone down, several cyclists slid off the high-banked track in a chain-reaction accident.

Robert York of Torrance was taken by paramedics to a hospital for X-rays. Two cyclists rejoined the field, but two skinned-up cyclists stayed in the infield, including Melody Wong, the only woman who had lined up to start the points race.

Olympic gold medalist Mark Gorski won the men’s match sprint with two straight victories over Alex Ongaro, the Canadian national champion, averaging about 41 m.p.h.

Shawn Wallace of Great Britain won the men’s individual pursuit, beating Dave Lettieri of Scranton, Pa. Lettieri is currently training here while majoring in business at Loyola Marymount.

Connie Paraskevin, three-time world champion in the women’s match sprint, beat 7-Eleven teammate Rebecca Twigg in two straight races, winning the second in 12 seconds.

Twigg came back a few minutes later to win her specialty, the women’s individual pursuit. For women, the individual pursuit is a 3,000-meter event, which on this track is nine laps. Cyclists start from opposite sides of the track and try to close the gap. Twigg, the world champion in the event, was within a few yards of Patti Cashman at the end of nine laps.

Although most of the cyclists were Americans, there were competitors from Canada, Great Britain, Tobago, Finland and West Germany.

This Grand Prix was the third of a series of eight events leading to the Grand Prix finals in Colorado Springs July 4-6. The Americans who qualify through the preliminary Grand Prix competition will compete in the finals against a total of 11 countries, including the Soviet Union and East Germany.