March 22/06 1:24 am - Track O-Cup #6

Posted by Editoress on 03/22/06
 

Ontario Track Cup #6
Courtesy Rob Good

What a great night of racing at the Forest City Velodrome. Racing began in the afternoon with Time Trials for each category. Early in the session 2, of our up and coming, Seniors went under 5.15 in the 4km event, at our short track this is a major achievement. Personally I can hardly wait for Provincials to see what times can be turned.

In the evening's racing, a solid crowd of 200 were very enthusiastic and loud as the riders were introduced. During Sprint Qualifying 9 riders went under 9 seconds which translates to over 56kph, unfortunately only 4 riders went on to the next round, but this is very encouraging for the Provincial Championships in April.

We had several guests from Quebec and Michigan, all did very well throughout the evening's racing. The Sprint Tournament had all 4 racers very well matched as all 4 were within 2/10's of a second apart in Qualifying.

Round 1: Adam Thuss (ON) vs Martin Laforest (QC).
In a very thrilling jump from the top of the banking Thuss gained the early advantage, only to have Laforest counter the move and attack over top of Thuss. With a lap to go the Quebec rider swung up the track thinking the race was over. Unfortunately he had misjudged the finish and Thuss went on to the Gold Medal Final.

Round 2: Lawerence Laroux (QC Jr) vs Keith Thorarinson (ON).
This was a very tactical race with the lead changing hands several times ... before the sprint started. Thorarinson jumped the 17 year old from Quebec (Keith must of learned from his sprint with Gord Singleton a few weeks ago) as he did not Lawerence come close to getting around him on the last lap.

The Sprint Finals was a shot out with Thuss taking the early advantage. However the experience of Thorarinson showed again as he was not going to give up the lead and was the first to the line in a very competitive series of races.

In the Points races, each category saw Eric Robertson & Garnet Abbey control their respective groups to come out on the winning end after 50 laps of hard fought racing. The Juniors were the most competitive group as eventual winner Alex Fournier battled back from a 1/2 lap down to earn enough points to tie Ryan Crawford on points at the end of the race. However, Fournier was declared the winner by winning the final sprint against the feisty Crawford.

Next racing action at London's Velodrome is March 31st, The first weekend of the International 6 Day Bicycle Classic. More information will be available this week.