Recently crowned double world champion Sarah Lee Wai-sze finished fifth in the keirin in Saturday night’s PRURide Six Day Hong Kong series before her adoring home fans, but she wasn’t worried. On the second night of the series spectacle, the Hong Kong heroine laughed off the result at Tseung Kwan O velodrome, saying she didn’t try very hard because of safety concerns and that she was putting more emphasis on the women’s elite sprint title. “All riders came together in the last corner of the race and for safety reasons I did not try very hard when closing in,” said Lee. “There is still one last day of racing and I won’t let fans down. There’s always an expectation of winning in front of home crowds.” The three-day racing series, with its loud music and lights, aims to provide an atmosphere for riders and spectators to enjoy, allowing more interaction between competitor and fan. Sarah Lee’s success reflects the Hong Kong spirit In a lighthearted moment, Lee came up to the track to help Taiwan rider Feng Kang-shih by becoming his starting assistant, earning applause from the crowd before the start of the men’s keirin. “I did not see any assistant coming to his aid so it was very natural that I would offer my help,” said Lee of the unusual move. Despite Saturday’s setback, Lee, who clinched the keirin and sprint double at the World Championships earlier this month in Poland, still leads the points standings. She has picked up 158 points after two days of racing, 14 points ahead of Miriam Welte of Germany. Urszula Los of Poland is third on 101 points. Welte stunned fans when the German rider, a 2012 team sprint Olympic champion, defeated Lee in the sprint final on Friday, ending Lee’s 43 winning streak in the event since the World Cup, World Championships and Asian Championships. Elite women sprinters feature three races a day – the 200-metre flying time trial, sprint and keirin, for three days. Sarah Lee is world champion at last: Hong Kong rider defeats Stephanie Morton in sprint final The home favourite won both the time trial and sprint on the second day after taking the time trial and keirin crown on Friday night. In fact, she remains the only rider who has finished the time trial under 11 seconds in the first two days of competition. While Lee was the focus, another young Hong Kong rider, Lee Wing-sze, earned high praise from her “big sister”. “She has good potential and did pretty well,” said the world champion. The younger Lee was a last minute call-up for the event after senior member Jessica Lee Hoi-yan became injured at the World Championships. The sixth form secondary school student still had to take her DSE examination before Saturday’s race. Hong Kong PruRide Six Day Series ‘can become as popular as Rugby Sevens’ Lee, 18, captured two gold medals, the scratch and points race, at the Asian Junior Championships last month. Leung Chun-wing and Cheung King-lok became the second Hong Kong riders to win a race in the series. The 2018 Asian Games men’s madison gold medallists came first in the madison chase with 15 points, seven more points than the second place duo from Denmark.