October 20/07 3:57 am - Forest City Velodrome 6 Day: Day 1

Posted by Editoress on 10/20/07
 

Forest City Velodrome 6 Day
Courtesy Rob Good

Day 1

3 Hours of racing down, 5 exciting days of racing left in the first 6 Day bike race in Canada this season.

Riders began arriving early to prepare themselves for the night of intense wheel to wheel racing on the Forest City Velodrome's 50 degree banked corners. First to arrive was our friends from the United States, Joe Brennan (New Jersey), Martin Rooseboom & Phillipe Raymond (Montreal) and Brian Crosby (Minnesota)..... the track was open and the riders stretched their legs for a solid 90 minutes before the locals began to come through the gates.

A total of 25 riders participated in the action, with the Kids putting some of the most entertaining racing which kicked of the night. The racing was clean and Green with not one rider putting a wheel wrong, clean exchanges in all 4 Madison's with the Elimination races providing the intensity that comes with close quarter racing on the 138m Velodrome.

How the Evening unfolded:

The "B" division is broken into 5 (three rider) teams with each team having a new rider on their squad. Everyone gets a chance to race in a Scratch , Elimination and a Madison. Birthday boy Kyle Rupay (Peterborough) who just turned 14, dominated the individual races for the "Stars of the Future", winning both the Scratch and Elimination races. 3 young ladies all under 17 are also racing in all the events during this 6 Day. Stephanie Bester, Sarah and Emily McKenzie-Picot all from London are preforming at a very high level and we are looking for bigger and better things to come from these riders. New to Madison racing Brian Kelly (London) is accumulating points for the Blue team, he is in his second 6 Day.... one cool thing about Brian Kelly is that since the Velodrome opened in April 2005, he has progressed from a part time Recreational rider to being able to master the art of Madison exchanges and lose 50# at the same time.

At the end of the final Madison it was Team Black Just nipping Team Red at the line..... a very tight battle in the points as no team gained a lap during the racing action.

The Elite division saw a very different first night of racing as Team Ontario of Vince DeJong (Brantford) and Danielle DeFranceschi (Double "D") from Windsor stretched the legs of the other teams in all of the point sprints and managed to win the final sprint for double points to take a early lead on points after the first night of action. All teams are on the same lap with Team Quebec 17 points in arrears. They will be able to come back however they will have to be very aggressive on night 2.

Winner of the Elimination race was the Can-Am Team of Crosby and Garnett Abbey (Burlington), being able to last until the end was made very difficult as 2 Teams attacked early in the race to wear down the other riders, it worked with Dejong and Crosby coming down to the finish elbow to elbow with Crosby winning by inches.

The final 45 min Madison with double points on offer came down to a 10 lap shot out with Crosby and Abbey attacking as the final 10 laps began, This can be a great tactic if it works and it looked like it might as with the laps winding down on the final exchange the 1/4 lap lead had evaporated and it was a battle between 3 teams Quebec had just caught Crosby with 11/2 to go, however lurking in third was Dejong just about to exchange with "DD", the exchange happened with "DD" catching the fading teams ahead and no more exchanges on the final lap, Team Ontario scooped up the win and took the early lead in the points standings. Close behind are Team Delhi (Mike Renneboog & Dave Byer) and Team London (Brandon Throop & Scott Lundy)

Racing continues on Saturday night at 7pm and Sunday afternoon at 1pm. Plan to attend one night during the 6 nights of racing you will not be disappointed.

Madison REsults

'A' Teams

1. Ontario - (Daniele Defranceschi/Vince DeJong) 54 pts
2. Quebec - (Martin Rooseboom/Phillipe Raymond) 37
3. Can-Am - (Brian Crosby/Garnett Abbey) 36
Delhi - (Mike Renneboog/Dave Byer) 34
4. London - (Brandon Throop/Scott Lundy) 28

'B' Teams

Team Black - (Lorne Falkenstein/Ivan Cernigoy/Sarah McKenzie-Picot) 50pts
Team Red - (Rob Good/Ryan Aitcheson/Stephanie Bester) 47
Team Purple - (Joe Brennan/Taylor Martin/Kyle Rupay) 41
Team Blue - (John Hueston/Rod Olliver/Brian Kelly) 32
Team Orange - (John Craig/Jean-Luc Bertrand/Emily McKenzie-Picot) 20

Complete results and more information about the FCV can be found at www.forestcityvelodrome.ca