May 10/07 9:19 am - 2007 Burnaby Velodrome Summer Challenge

Posted by Editor on 05/10/07
 

2007 Burnaby Velodrome Summer Challenge
Courtesy Glenn Barr

Burnaby Velodrome's 2006-2007 track season wrapped up in style with 58 riders making their way to the rail for a packed schedule of mass start, Madison and sprint events. New and experienced racers alike were well represented and took home several thousand dollars worth of merchandise and cash prizes. New racer Mauro Gazzola proved a strong competitor with multiple wins on the track and a big win on the in-field with the top raffle prize of $1000 off a custom Naked Bicycles frame!

Despite spirited efforts from Bruce Denis in second and BC junior racer Matt Pottma in third, Scott Laliberte's consistently strong performance put him on the podium in all but one event to lock up the A Mass Start Omnium title. Juniors Cody Campbell of BC and Stephen Meyer of Ontario held down fifth and six respectively, excellent results against a tough field of more experienced racers and only one point behind third place local racer Chris Reid.

In the B Mass Start Omnium, BC juniors Mike Rothengatter and Kevin Thorpe pushed each other to significant point advantages over the 17 rider field. Third place racer Laura Brown came on very strong later in the weekend but too late to stop the charging juniors.

The C field was composed almost entirely of racers who began track racing in the last year. Tony Zackery earned top spot in the C Mass Start Omnium, edging out dEVo's Olivier 'Ollie' Newton by two points. Ollie demonstrated huge progress this year and showed a good turn of speed when charging after Tony. Wednesday Night regular Nick Berry's strong rides help him hold down third despite sitting out a few events.

A very strong sprint field turned out for the event and put on a fine show, with Matt Chater taking the A Sprint Omnium with 26 points over Felix Haspel in second with 15 and Michael Lawrence in third with six. The B Sprint Omnium saw Michael Cooper take first by a good margin over juniors Ryan Crawford and Jacob Schwingboth. In the Women's Pedal Magazine Sprint Omnium Jenn Lee dominated with wins in both events while Claire Cameron and Julia Jurcova took second and third over the ever-present Rachel "Pinky" Canning.

Madisons provided some fantastic racing with a mixed field of paired A's and B's. Ontario juniors Stephen Meyer and Ryan Crawford earned a strong first, holding off the cagey duo of Laliberte and Canning to secure the win. Only two points back were Claire Cameron and Glenn Barr - a great performance from the LTR instructor and a busy race organizer!

Racers and spectators alike enjoyed the "Fixie" events where rider Mike Sidic dominated with a hat-trick of wins. To add flavour to an interesting event an Australian Pursuit started with the riders track-standing for about a minute. The foot-down competition involved the crowd as riders hopped around to gain position in an ever-tightening circle and a 20 lap scratch race concluded the main fixie event with Mike edging the controversially lycra-clad Adam Barlev.

Full race results and pictures will be posted at www.burnabyvelodrome.ca.