November 22/10 4:23 am - Juniors Shine in London, Ontario - FCV Race Report

Posted by Editoress on 11/22/10
 

Racing in London was at it's best last Saturday night. The Cadet and Junior Division was center stage for the prelude to the CanAmQue Challenge, which will hit the boards in five short days.

The Forest City Velodrome continues to roll out Canada's top talent in the Cadet and Junior categories. Fast... no, no.... really fast: Cadet Sprinters who regularly top the speed charts on race nights. Saturday's racing was no exception. The top four qualifiers were Cadets and Juniors, with speeds at 57.064 kph for fourth qualifier Brandon Lindow (Brantford) to quickest qualifier Kris Ovsenek (Invita-FCV) at 59.935, not too shabby on our tight 138 metre velodrome.

In the tournament itself, second place qualifier, Adrian George (Invita-FCV), was upset by "The Professor" Lorne Falkenstein, who advanced to the Bronze medal round, only to go down to defeat by inches to up and coming racer Chris Singleton (St. Catharines). In the Gold medal sprint the two cadets Ovsenek and Daniel McKenzie-Picot (coachchris.ca) duelled head to head, and a late surge by Ovsenek proved to be enough to secure the win in a very entertaining sprint final.

The Women were next to hit the track. There were two young ladies from Quebec who participated and performed at the top of their game, and came away with three podiums on the night. Audrey Labrie and her sister Laurence Paquette (Piste.ca) were on the podium in the Scratch races and Points race. Nina Nesdoly (Ottawa Bicycle Club) won the Points race ahead of Labrie only to have Audrey nip Nesboly in the final scratch on the night. Newcomer Kristen Sears (NCCH) had a great night of racing, with two podiums herself in the Points and Scratch races. Candice Vermuelen rounded out the podiums for the women with a silver medal in the first Scratch race on the night.

The featured race of this Grand Prix series event was the 80 lap Cadet and Junior endurance race. The riders were seeded through qualifying events early in the program and only the top 14 racers would contest the Main Event.

Early in the race, a breakaway of three riders would see Kyle Rupay (La Bicicletta), Branden Lindow (Brantford) and Brian Trafford (Ottawa Bicycle Club) quickly gain half a lap. The trio would work together very well for the next 30 laps, at which point eventual winner Jason King (Invita-FCV) would bridge the gap and get on even terms with the three leaders.

As the laps clicked off, a fifth rider - Patrick McGinley (Invita-FCV) - attempted to get across to the four leaders, who were about to go up one lap on the field. Slowly McGinley chipped away at the four leaders and, with 20 to go, there were now five riders up a lap and the attacks still continued.

With nine laps to go, King rolled off the front and had a 10 metre advantage. The chase was on, however, the four other chasers were out of gas and could not make up the difference, with King winning the very exciting Junior feature event. Kyle Rupay and Branden Lindow came accross the line together, with Rupay taking second by less then .077 seconds, according to the FCV computer scoring system.

The final event of the night was the Elite Madison, with six teams taking to the rail for the start. It was a good mix of youth and master racers who would spice up the event. In the end, the Invita-FCV team of Jason King (who was on fire all night) partnered with Will Simonds to lap the field, and had the crowd standing and cheering them on. With five laps to go, the 14 year old Simonds missed his last exchange with King. Simonds had to finish the race with the hard charging team of Dave Bogue & Garnett Abbey closing half lap in the final five laps to finish second by only two bike lengths.

Overall a very successful evening of racing with over 250 spectators jammed into the FCV.

Full results Here

Youth race report from Saturday:

A huge turnout of Youth racers were on hand Saturday night to add to the excitement of the Grand Prix racing by the adults.

14 of the FCV Youth program showed the more than 250 spectators what they were made during the racing action.  The first event for the under 14 year old racers was the crowd pleasing Handicap.  With the pits full of kids we had to break them into three groups and seed the riders based on Flying laps over the past few weeks.

The FCV has prepared the kids during the youth training sessions to know where each rider is to start by marking distances around the facility.  The kids really enjoy performing for their parents, and the crowd really gets into the short three lap events.

In Heat #1, Lucas Taylor was given the largest advantage, while top seed Logan McIntyre was starting 40 metres behind.  The four riders were off and very quickly Kaila Bouchard went around Lucas, Chris Marentette advanced and McIntyre was quickly coming from the back.  With two laps to go McIntyre was in second behind Bouchard, and with 20 metres to go McIntyre came over Bouchard for the win.... very exciting.

Heat #2 saw a very close close finish, with Sam Carson just edging Jordan Jones and Nathan Finch.  The fourth place was decided by half a wheel, with two new racers, Vayshali Patel and Aaron Damaren, duelling it out right to the line and Vayahali crossing the line for fourth.

Heat #3 pitted two veterans at the FCV - Katherine Marentette (13 years old) and Trey Ellison (13).  The officials also had two riders who were a little older (juniors that were looking for race experience)... as a result the officials completely messed the seeding, with Ellison slipping to fourth and Marentette second after a good start.... the strongest Junior Kaitin Dundas came across the line first and Alex Schmidt moved up to third.

In the Handicap finals the results were a little different, with Carson winning his heat, and Nathan Finch and Katherine Marentette winning their respective handicap events.  All three winners of the Finals received gift certificates from local bike store Reynolds Cycle.

The last events for the kids were the scratch races.... with so many racers we had "A" and "AA" races that were just like the Pros.  The only difference was that the distance is a little shorter.  The FCv also makes sure the kids know the etiquette of racing and they all know that they must pass over the rider in front of them.

In the "AA" race it was a spirited affair, with the lead changing five times in the short 10 lap event.  Eventual winner Jordan Jones (11) outpaced Nathan Finch and Sam Carson for the lap of honour, carrying the Canadian Flag after the race.

The 15 lap feature race for the youth got off to a quick start with Lucus Taylor attacking from the rail and not looking back.  The other four kids let Lucas gain almost half a lap before they started to pull him back into their gun sights.  With seven laps to go, Katherine Marentette attacked over the top to be followed by Logan McIntyre, who was following Marentette's every move.  With two laps to go McIntyre started sprinting for the finish, but Trey Ellison and Katherine Marentette touched wheels, upsetting their momentum, and the riders had to settle for fifth and sixth places.  In the end, McIntyre finished first with a surprised Jordan Jones, who just won the previous race, crossing the line second in the much more demanding "A" main event.

Full results Here

All the kids will be back in action this Saturday night when visitors from Detroit will be doing battle with the FCV youth racers.

Upcoming at FCV

All eyes will be on the Forest City Velodrome this weekend Nov 26th and 27th as the 5th annual CanAmQue Challenge weekend will rumble onto the boards....

Friday night is Madison night with separate "A" & "B" Madison races, Sprints, Miss & Outs and Scratch races, along with opening and closing Madisons during the program.

On Saturday night at 7:00 pm the 138 lap CanAmQue Challenge will be the feature event. There will be racing for all categories including the FCV youth racers. Adult admission is $10.00 with Seniors $5.00 and Kids are always "FREE".

Visit www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca for more information.