Huntington Beach Cyclist Wins Time Trials in U.S. Nationals

Bill Drysdale of Huntington Beach, Calif., led a five-rider assault on the track record Tuesday night to win the senior men’s kilometer time trial at the U.S. National Track Cycling Championships.

Drysdale rode his kilo in 1 minute, 9 and 80-100ths of a second. The nine-year-old record, set at the 1977 Nationals in this Seattle suburb, was 1:10.28.

Rebecca Twigg Whitehead demolished the track record for the senior women’s kilometer, lowering it by more than five seconds, in winning that event on the track where she started her cycling career.

Whitehead’s time was 1:14.24. The old track record, 1:19.96, was broken by the top four women finishers, including Julie Saunders of Edmonds, Wash., who held that record. She finished fourth.

In other events, Robin Coon of San Diego, Calif., won the junior women’s (16-17-year-olds) 3 kilometer race, Albert Hale of Garden Grove, Calif., won the junior boys (14-15-year-olds) 3 kilometer race, and Janie Eickhoff of Los Alamitos, Calif., the defending national champion, won the junior girls (14-15-year-olds) 2 kilometer race.

Marcello Arrue of Altadena, Calif., knocked more than three seconds off the track record to win the junior men’s kilometer time trial in 1:11.54.