December 9/08 9:35 am - Forest City Velodrome Holds Final 2008 Ontario Championship Event

Posted by Editoress on 12/9/08
 

FCV Holds Final 2008 Ontario Championship Event
Courtesy Rob Good

The last Ontario Championship race of 2008 was held on Saturday night at London's Forest City Velodrome. Five "AA" division teams came out to contest the Omnium format evening of racing. Teams were a balanced mix of youth matched with experience.

The first four events were time trials and individual events to give each team a good sense of the skill levels within the team. Team Teal (Mike Nuttall and Rhys Bateman) scored two wins to go into the final 20 minute Madison in the lead on points. Also winning events in the early part of the Omnium were the Yellow Team of Emily McKenzie-Picot / Dave St. James, and the Grey Team of Kyle Rupay / Dina Ridha. The points spread was very close and it would come down to which team could gain the advantage during the last race of the night. Madison racing demands the most skill, and in addition combines race strategy with consistent hand slings (exchanges) to keep the pressure on the other teams.

Early in the "AA" Madison, Team Black (Brian Kelly / Daniel McKenzie-Picot) attacked from the whistle to gain a very quick 1/2 lap advantage over the field, this early move would eventually come back to haunt the London riders. They were slowly reeled in by the other teams with no one taking more that a 30 metre lead until the youngest rider in the field, 14 year old Drew Welsh, attacked over the top of the other teams during an exchange with partner Lorne Falkenstein. The 1/4 lap increased to 1/2 a lap, until 16 year old Emily McKenzie-Picot strung out the field to begin the process of closing the gap on the leaders. From nowhere the team of Bateman / Nuttall started to move closer to the lead ..... This was short lived, as the team missed an exchange and came back to the field.

Picot attacked again and closed the gap to Welsh, and the two teams seeme d to have things their own way with two minutes left in the 20 minute affair. Rupay came from nowhere, to again close the gap to the leaders, only to fall a little short during the final sprint. On the last exchange, McKenzie-Picot made one last try to seal the win for the Yellow team, only to be counterattacked by Welsh and, in the end, the final sprint went to Welsh/Falkenstein, McKenzie-Picot/St James crossed the line second and finished third overall for Bronze.

Final Standings in the "AA" Division:

Gold Medal - Team Blue - Welsh/Falkensrein
Silver Medal - Team Teal - Nuttall/Bateman
Bronze Medal - Team Yellow - McKenzie-Picot/St. James
4th Place - Team Black - Kelly/Daniel M-P
5th Place - Team Grey - Ridha/Rupay


The Elite race was just as exciting, with the winner of the event not being determined until the final sprint of the 45 minute Madison. Early in the competition Team White (Joe Veloce and Steve Meyer) had a definite advantage going into the last race of the night .... only to see their dominance slip away with the leg blowing speed of the first 15 minutes of the Madison.

Attack after attack had all the remaining teams suffering, wishing for the end to come, laps were being taken with the eventual winners Team Green (Vlemmix/DeFranceschi) pulling back an early lap by track regular Mike Renneboog and 15 year old cadet Jason King, who would make it to Silver in the final standings ..... a great night of racing by all the competitors.

Final Standings in the "Elite" Division

Gold Medal - Team Green - Vlemmix/DeFranceschi
Silver Medal - Team Yellow - King/Renneboog
Bronze Medal - Team Blue - Lundy/Carden
4th Place - Team Purple - Throop/Perlmutter
5th Place - Team Red - Aitcheson/rg
6th Place - Team White - Veloce/Meyer

Racing continues Saturday, December 13th at 7pm. The six hour FCV Track Enduro will test the will power of the 35 racers currently entered .... come out and see the madness.