Los Alamitos Woman Sets Cycling Record

Janie Eickhoff of Los Alamitos won her first national title as a senior rider and Steve Hegg of Dana Point moved close to a national championship at the U.S. Track Cycling Nationals in Redmond, Wash., Wednesday.

Eickhoff, who is a double-world champion as a junior rider, set an American record in winning the women’s kilometer time trial; Hegg, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist, won the 4,000 pursuit semifinals, to move into today’s finals.

Eickhoff, 19, won the time trial by almost two seconds over her nearest competitor, Kendra Kneeland of Portland, Ore., covering the 2 1/2 laps around the 400-meter Marymoor Velodrome in 1 minute 13.81 seconds.

Eickhoff’s victory gives her an automatic selection to the U.S. team that will ride at the World Cycling Championships next month in Lyon, France.

Eickhoff was the 1987 junior world sprint and pursuit champion and took .23 seconds off the national standard set by Seattle’s Rebecca Twigg in 1984. She also was the national points race champion last year.

Hegg defeated three-time national champion Carl Sundquist of Coral Gables, Fla., by .39 seconds in the men’s 4,000 meter pursuit semifinals and will race against Tim Bengston of El Segundo in the finals tonight.

Hegg had a time of 4:56.22 to 4:56.61 for Sundquist, with the lead changing hands several times over the 10 laps.

The defending national champion, David Brinton of North Hollywood, Calif., is not competing this year.

In the women’s 3,000-meter pursuit, Mindee Mayfield of Evergreen, Colo., the defending national champion, won her semifinal race against Peggy Maass of San Jose. Mayfield and Maass finished one, two in the 1988 pursuit finals.

This year, Mayfield will ride against Bunki Bankaitis-Davis of Boulder, Colo., in the finals tonight. Bankaitis-Davis won her semifinal ride against Kendra Kneeland of Portland, Ore.