April 2/07 5:12 am - MS London Six-Day at Forest City Velodrome

Posted by Editoress on 04/2/07
 

MS London 6 Day
Courtesy Rob Good/Forest City Velodrome

Well it took six days of racing to determine the winner of the MS London 6 Day bike race at the Forest City Velodrome in London Ontario. Team Windsor riders Daniele Defranceschi and Chris Morton, sponsored by Hooters Restaurants, dominated the points sprints all weekend to emerge as the overall winners of the 6 Day competition.

How it unfolded

During the final weekend of racing, over 900 spectators watched some of the most exciting Madison team racing that the FCV has put on. Both the "A" and "B" divisions had the race fans on the edge of their seats with very intense action. The format that the organizers put together gave the "Stars of the Future" in situations that will provide benefits for Canadian cycling for many years to come. These future stars were paired with the "B" division and participated in Scratch races, Elimination and Madison's during each night of racing. 16-year-old Stephanie Bester, 14-year-old Kyle Rupay, 12-year-old Ryan Lave, "X"-year-old Brian Kelly and 15-year-old Andrew Lockhart were giving the shot at performing on centre stage and did not disappoint anyone in the crowd.

The hard fought "B" division was won by the Tri-City team of Alex Fournier, Rod Olliver, Ryan Lave and Andrew Lockhard. It will be interesting how these riders, and the "A" division, progress to the main event at the October 2007 6 Days of London.

The beneficiary of the racing at the FCV was the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada which will receive a cheque from the Forest City Velodrome in the amount of $512.50. the MS London 6 Day was the most successful race event in the short 2-year history of the 138m Velodrome.

At the start of the final day of racing on Sunday many final positions were yet to be determined in the overall standings. Team Windsor continued the speed-fest and sprinted to the points lead. However Team Stratford of Adam Thuss and Chris Vlemmix had other plans and just after a points sprint midway through the 1st madison Thuss attacked hard in an attempt to gain a lap. The attack paid off as none of the teams chased until his partner Vlemmix was half a lap up. That was the easy part, for the next 12 minutes the hounds were on the rivet trying to chase the leaders down. Just before the first set of points sprints two of the chasers missed exchanges and that caused havoc and within two laps (19 seconds), Team Stratford had their lap on the field. To defend their advantage meant keeping the pace high to stop any chance for attacks by the other teams.

By Startford taking the lap, it sealed the overall victory for Team Windsor (Defranceschi & Morton). however positions 2nd,3rd, 4th were up for grabs. This battle came down to the final double points sprint at the end of the event. Local London team of Brandon Throop & Junior Steve Meyer attacked with 10 laps to go in the Madison and pulled a gap on 3rd place team from Delhi (Dave Byers & Mike Renneboog) who were trapped at the back of the field and could not counter the move during the final few laps of the race.

Congratulations to Team Windsor for their outstanding work during the 6 Days of racing.

Race Notes
Only five teams contested the racing on Sunday as a spill on the final lap of Saturday night knocked Team Brantford (Crawford & Robertson) out of the race, Team Burlington (Abbey & Dejong) had to have a substitute racer Keith Thorarason fill in on short notice and took a few preem sprints.

Total purse for the event exceeded all expectations $2,360 was divided between all the teams, in addition $2,050 in preem sprint money was added to the prize pool. Total amount of prizes for the racers was $4,410, The largest prize pool in FCV history.

Many thanks from all the racers to the spectators who put up the money for the sprints.

Sponsors who made the event an even bigger spectacle.... Verspeeten Cartage, Delhi Silver Spokes, D‚Ornellas Bicycle Shop, CoachChris.ca, Hooters Restaurants and Sport Nutrition Depot.

Next race at the Forest City Velodrome is a Sprint & Keirin Tournament Saturday, April 7 at 7pm.


A Teams - Day 6th Result

1. Stratford (Adam Thuss, Chris Vlemmix) 22pts
2. Windsor (Daniele Defranceschi, Chris Morden) 57
3. London (Stephen Meyer, Brandon Throop) 39
4. Delhi (Mike Renneboog, Dave Byer) 37
5. Burlington (Garnett Abbey, Vince Dejong) 35
6. Brantford (Eric Robertson, Ryan Crawford) dns

A Teams ˆ Final Overall

1. Team Windsor 53pts
2. Team London 48
3. Team Stratford 46
4. Team Delhi 45
5. Team Burlington 42
6. Team Brantford 32

B Teams - Day 6th Result

1. Niagara (Rob Good, Ray Gubala, Kyle Rupay) 41pts
2. Tri-City (Alex Fournier, Rod Olliver, Andrew Lockhart) 58 (1 lap down)
3. London (Lorne Falkenstein, John Hueston, Brian Kelly) 41 (1 lap down)
4. U.S.A. (Joe Brennan, Rob Kowal, Stephanie Bester) 35 (1 lap down)

B Teams - Final Overall

1. Team Tri-City 54pts
2. Team U.S.A. 51
3. Team London 51
4. Team Niagara 48