It Wasn’t So Swell on Wheels : Carpenter, Duprel Share Bad Fortune in Sprint Finals

Saturday was a day of watching for La Mesa’s Ken Carpenter at the third stop of the seven-city Sundance Juice Sparkler Grand Prix of Cycling. And he did not like what he saw at the San Diego Velodrome in Balboa Park.

First, Carpenter watched as fiance Renee Duprel was involved in a nasty spill in the first race of the women’s sprint match final. Then he watched as rival Curt Harnett of Canada raced past him with a surprising move to easily win the first race of the men’s sprint final.

Carpenter never recovered from the mental lapse and lost the best-of-three event, 2-0. Duprel could not continue with injuries suffered in the crash with Connie Paraskevin-Young and lost by forfeit. Duprel led, 1-0, because Young was disqualified for not leaving her enough room at the top of the track. But Duprel said she could not race again.

The crash occurred on the final turn as Duprel tried to pass Young by going over the top. Young, a bronze medalist at the 1988 Olympics, and Duprel were side-by-side when Duprel hit the wall, and the two cyclists went sprawling down the track. Both suffered cuts and abrasions and banged their heads.

“I was just coming around, and she just took me up to the rail because she was in danger of me coming around,” Duprel said. “I remember thinking ‘this was going to be a bad one.’ If she did it gradually, it would have been legal, but it wasn’t that gradual.

“I feel it was her fault, that she took me down. It was pretty radical.”

Young had a different view.

“I think what happened was that we were very close to each other, and she got herself out of control, and she couldn’t come back,” Young said. “You think I want to go down? You’ve got to be kidding me.

“I’m sorry we went down, but it’s one of those things. If you want to look at it that way, she took me down.”

The judges didn’t agree.

After the crash, Carpenter had a dilemma. Part of him wanted to see his fiance, and part of him knew it was better to stay away.

“I’m thinking, ‘God, I want to go over to the trainer and see how she is,’ ” Carpenter said. “But I knew the best thing was to stay away. I’m just one more person going crazy.”

Carpenter also had to think about his first race against Harnett, who beat him in the final last week in Los Angeles.

But Harnett took advantage of Carpenter’s first-race lapse to win easily. Carpenter took the lead but then took his eyes off Harnett, who immediately accelerated and raced past before Carpenter knew what had happened. Harnett followed that race with a close victory to clinch the event.

“The first race my mind was somewhere else,” Carpenter said. “But Curt did a really good move.”