OLYMPIC TRIALS ROUNDUP : Seven Cyclists Are Injured in Track Mishaps

Cyclist Bart Bell of Anniston, Ala., was in unconscious and in critical condition Sunday night following a crash during the tandem sprint race at the U.S. Olympic cycling trials at Blaine, Minn.

Bell and tandem partner Tom Brinker of Washington, Mo., the 1988 national champions in the event, collided with Marty Nothstein of Trexlertown, Pa., and Erin Hartwell of Indianapolis.

The riders were competing for the national championship. The tandem sprint is not an Olympic event.

The crash took place on the final straightaway, 30 meters from the finish of their first ride in the best-of-three final.

Bell and Brinker’s front wheel nudged Nothstein and Hartwell’s back wheel, damaging both bikes and sending Bell and Brinker rolling into the infield grass past the finish. The mangled front wheel then collapsed and Bell careened over the handlebars.

Brinker rose within two minutes, but Bell was transported to Unity Hospital in Fridley, Minn.

“The guys are radical, they’re going fast and the bikes and riders are heavy,” Hartwell said. “If you crash in tandems, somebody’s going to get hurt. I’m not out to break my neck. You don’t want to see anybody hurt.”

Nothstein and Hartwell, the defending tandem sprint champions, were declared the winners by injury default. Brinker protested the ride, claiming Nothstein and Hartwell had ridden out of the sprinter’s lane at the bottom of the track to allow Brinker and Bell to pass inside them just before the contact, but the protest was denied.

“It was a desperation move, in my opinion,” Nothstein said. “You’re not going to pass a tandem in 30 meters.”

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Another mishap, a chain-reaction pileup in the women’s 20-kilometer points race, injured six riders, but none seriously.

The winner of the race was Janie Eickhoff of Los Alamitos. Like the men’s tandem sprint final, the women’s point race is not an Olympic event.

Those injured included Linda Kruse of Irving, Tex.; Shellie Matthews of Seattle; Tonya Merrick of Kenosha, Wis.; Keri Sharp of Mountain View, Calif., and Alicia DeCampos of San Diego, who sustained minor cuts and abrasions but were not able to continue.

Tara Manno of Allentown, Pa., rejoined the race and finished ninth.

The final Olympic spot decided on the track went to men’s points race champion James Carney of Annandale, N.J. Carney, the defending national champion, won both 50-kilometer races Saturday and Sunday to earn the Olympic berth.

The men’s Olympic team pursuit squad was announced, including all four members of the national champion Team Skittles: Carney, Chris Coletta of Colorado Springs, Colo., Matt Hamon of Igo, Calif., and Dirk Copeland of San Diego.

Jim Pollak Jr. of Denver, also was selected for the team, but a drug suspension hearing scheduled for July 6 still leaves his availability for Barcelona in doubt. Pollak tested positive for excessive testosterone, considered an anabolic steroid, in an April race in Belgium, but Pollak insists he took no performance-enhancing drugs.

Alternates to the men’s track cycling team included Nothstein in the kilometer, Hamon in the individual pursuit, Pollak in the points race and Tim Quigley of Topton, Pa., and Carl Sundquist of Miami, Fla., in the team pursuit. Renee Duprel of Bellevue, Wash. (match sprint) and Eickhoff (individual pursuit) were named alternates to the women’s team.