Southland rider Marshall Erwood timed his sprint to perfection to take out the elite men’s 30km Points Race at the SIT Velodrome in Invercargill.

Erwood earned a point in the penultimate sprint to draw level in the lead with Canterbury’s Hamish Keast and then outsprinted him for second and third to secure the overall win by two points.

Hawkes Bay rider Luke Mudgway won three sprints but missed out when four riders put a lap on the field for the 20 bonus points.

Erwood’s second placing in the final sprint earned him the win on 41 points from Keast on 39 with Counties Manukau’s Daniel Morton third on 35.

The sprinters stretched their legs with the 1km time trials, with national champion Ellesse Andrews winning the elite women in 1:04.892 from Canterbury’s Amelia Syles and Te Awamutu’s McKenzie Milne.

High Performance teammate Sam Dakin prevailed in the elite men in 1:00.846 to finish clear of Zakk Patterson (Te Awamutu Sports) in 1:02.609 and Southland’s Magnus Jamieson in 1:09.989.

The championship finishes on Saturday.