Sundquist Beats Hegg, Then Wins Cycle Final

Defending national men’s pursuit champion Carl Sundquist of Indianapolis kept the red-white-and-blue champion’s jersey Thursday night by beating Tim Bengston of Los Angeles in the final at the U.S. National Track Cycling Championships.

But his defense might have been settled during the semifinals when he defeated 1984 Olympic pursuit gold medalist Steve Hegg of Dana Point, Calif.

Rebecca Twigg Whitehead of Seattle, who has dominated the women’s bicycle racing and won the kilometer event earlier this week, picked up her second gold, in the women’s pursuit finals.

Nelson Vails of New York and Scott Berryman of Boulder, Colo., won the tandem pursuit final, taking two of three rides against Kit Kyle of Winnetka, Ill., and David Lindsay of Austin, Tex.

Hegg blazed around the track in record time Wednesday during qualifying rounds, his time about seven seconds faster than Sundquist’s best at that point.

But in their afternoon matchup Thursday, Sundquist edged Hegg by .45 of a second, 4:49.52 to 4:49.97, to win a ride in the finals against Bengston, who beat Dave Lettieri of Scranton, Pa., in their semifinal match.