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“I felt pretty comfortable on the track and that’s a good thing,” Willoughby said.

“This track is the hardest track in the world. I’m glad I got some laps in today and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

The highlight of an entertaining first day program was the elite time trial, contested by the top eight seeded women and top sixteen seeded men, determined by accumulated world cup series points.

Olympic champion Mariana Pajon built on her recent world cup success in Argentina to again win the women’s time trial in near flawless fashion.

World cup series leader Caroline Buchanan wasn’t at her best in the time trial, where she finished in sixth, and will now focus her full attention to racing tomorrow. Buchanan who has already won world cup events in Berlin and Manchester this year should be guaranteed her second world cup series win tomorrow by making the semi-finals, given her already substantial lead of 150 points.

The elite men’s time trial was all about hometown hero Conor Fields, who took out the win on his home track. Australian Anthony Dean who is currently second in the overall world cup series, finished 14^th in the time trial and will need a few things to go his way tomorrow if he is to stop Britain’s Liam Phillips from claiming the title.

Earlier in the day the qualification races offered up plenty of thrills and spills on the challenging track and forced those riders dreaming of qualification to bring their best. Safely navigating the three tricky races were Aussies’ Bodi Turner and youngster Max Cairns who will join Willougby and Dean tomorrow in the main field. Another Australian, David Habicht came agonizingly close to qualification, missing out on the 48^th and final place by just one to finish in 49^th overall.

In the elite women Lauren Reynolds, Kirsten Dellar and Rachel Jones all made it through qualification to join Buchanan and Melinda McLeod tomorrow in forming a strong Australian contingent.