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Track World Champs 2012, Day 4 - 7th April

Saturday 7th April - see below for timings - it's complicated!

After yesterday's exciting session, we're on the penultimate day of the competition - with local hero Shane Perkins racing French superstar Gregory Baugé, in their sprint semi-final - and winner will definitely face a Brit, as Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny face each other in other semi - with not just the chance to race for gold, but also to race the sprint in the Olympics at stake.

The women's omnium coming to a conclusion, and at the half-way point, it's very tight in the standings, with lots of ties. After 3 rounds, it looks like this:

1. Annette Edmondson, Australia, 11 points
2. Laura Trott, GB, 11
3. Sarah Hammer, USA, 21
4. Tara Whitten, Canada, 21
5. Evgenia Romanyuta, Russia, 24
6. Malgorzata Wojtyra, Poland, 24
7. Lisa Brennauer, Germany, 26
8. Joanne Kiesanowski, New Zealand, 28
9. Li Huang, China, 33
10. Tatsiana Sharakova, Belarus, 36
11. Zhao Juan Meng, Hong Kong, 36
12. Mei Yu Hsiao, Taipei 36

They'll finish with the Individual Pursuit, Scratch race and 500m time trial - expect a fight to the end

Alongside that, we'll have the men's Individual Pursuit, men's Points race and Anna Meares and Vicky Pendleton facing each other for the third and final time in the women's keirin.

The morning session - Men's IP and women's keirin qualifying, and women's omnium IP round is 13:00-16:50, Melbourne time again (that's 04:00 BST; 05:00 CEST; 23:00 USA Eastern & 20:00 USA Western) - and the afternoon session is 19:00-23:10, translating to 10:00 BEST, 11:00 CEST; 05:00 USA Eastern and 02:00 USA Western.

Here are the schedules, from various broadcasters - if you know more, add it to the comments

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The women's keirin should be an exciting race - it's Victoria Pendleton's last World Championships, and she's want to win the rainbows for a final time - but then last year's World Champion Anna Meares will want to retain it, especially after she was disqualified out of the deciding sprint semi-final with Pendleton.... and then we have sprint silver medallist Simona Krupeckaite (Ltu) who's brilliant, and all the riders who had a rest day on Friday, having been knocked out of the sprint before the semis - Kristina Vogel (Ger), Shuang Guo (Chn), Clara Sanchez (Fra), Olga Panarina (Blr) and Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez 9Cub)

The men's IP isn't an Olympic event any more, but it's still prestigious - I'm hoping the final will be between Geraint Thomas (GB) & Jack Bobridge (Aus) and it'll be a long wait for Geraint to find out, as he starts first and Bobridge last! Others to watch include the other Aussies Rohan Dennis and Micheal Hepburn and Belgian Dominique Cornu - but I can't see past Bobridge, especially as he's want revenge on Thomas after the Brits beat the Aussies in the Team Pursuit!

Like the IP, the men's points race was dropped from the Olympics - Unai Elorriaga Zubiaur (Spain) starts as World Cup series winner, while the 6-day specialists are always good to watch - Kenny de Ketele (Bel) and Peter Schep (Ned) in this race. Then there are riders like Ben Swift (GBr) who won the scratch race this week, Rafal Ratajcyzk (Cze) and last, but by no means least, and one of the top favourites, Australian Cameron Meyer.

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If you're new to track, and want a heads up on how the races work, there are descriptions through these links - omnium (the winner is the one with the lowest combined score from 6 days - 3 against the clock and 3 long bunch races), keirin (the one with the derny bikes leading the race to get the speed up, until the 6 riders sprint it out for a win), points (long endurance race - every 10 laps there are sprint points, and if riders gain a lap on the pack they get 20 points) and scratch race (long bunch race, basically fastest rider wins - although again, getting a lap can be important) - but really, if you want to know more, ask in the comments - the Podium Café track fans are always happy to answer any questions, and hopefully convert other people as we go!

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

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