April 1/08 2:17 am - Forest City Velodrome March Madness

Posted by Editor on 04/1/08
 

Forest City Velodrome March Madness - London, OntarioCourtesy Rob Good

The Cadets and Juniors took center stage on the final night of the Forest City Velodrome's March Madison Madness. During the two nights of racing the Kids were the stars of the show.

On Friday night the young riders were given the opportunity to race with the "A" Madison teams and 2 riders decided to give the longer and harder races a go. 13 year old Daniel McKenzie-Picot (London) and 15 year old John Carden (Paris) took the challenge and represented themselves very well. The youngsters raced throughout the night with the Cadets and Juniors and once the feature race took to the track on Friday, both riders held their own. Carden eventually won the event with partner Scott Lundy. A lap down in fourth, were the pairing of Vince DeJong and Daniel M-P.

The racing was clean and green with a ton of exhausted racers at the end of the night.

Saturday's program was again based on the Madison, with wild card riders in the mass start races to mix things up. It was also a night for the sprinters, as a very competitive 6 rider competition highlighted the night of racing.

In the "B" Madison races, points were accumulated during the 3 event Omnium with the team of Lisa Perlmutter (London) and Kyle Rupay (Peterborough) edging out Ray Gubala (Oshawa) and new rider Jamie Davis (NewMarket). A total of 6 teams kept the race fans on their toes during 2 Madisons that the "B" teams competed in during the program.... some very tired racers in the end.

On the "A" Madison events for the second night in a row 15 year old John Carden (Paris) and Scott Lundy (London) dominated the night of racing by lapping the field in a very stressful 7 minute "Jam". Team Blue, Ryan Aitcheson (Kitchener) and Lorne Falkenstein (London) came back from the disappointment Friday night of racing, to get within a few meters of the winners in the final 6 laps, as the eventual winners had missed their last couple of exchanges. All the Madison riders commented that the format worked out well with some teams doing well in the endurance races, and some doing better in the Madisons. We plan to take a closer look at this format to be integrated into the September schedule.

Sprinters were also a big part of the racing on both Friday and Saturday nights. The quickest time of the weekend was set on Saturday by 16 year old Allan Leparskas (London) who blistered the track in 8.50 seconds. A total of 6 riders qualified for the sprint tournament (2 Juniors, 2 Masters and 2 Elite riders). In round #1 there were no upsets with the top qualifiers moving on to the Semi-finals. The big news happened in the reparcharge, with 16 year old Ryan Aitcheson using some old fashion tactics to take advantage of his opponents.

On to the Semis.... Leparskas just nipped Aitcheson at the line to advance and Ryan Crawford (London) outfoxed Buffalo's Ryan Nye to move on. In the final for the Gold medal (well, bragging rights) Crawford used his quick jump to gap the young Leparskas by 5 bike lengths. All the riders watching from the infield thought the race was over, however, using his 3rd and 4th gear of acceleration the 16 year old battled back to come even with Crawford down the back stretch. The two were side by side through the last corner and with momentum on his side, Lesparskas edged Crawford at the line in a photo finish.

The spectators were on their feet cheering as both riders saluted the crowd during the victory lap.

Racing continues Saturday April 5th at 7pm with Rider Appreciation night at the FCV..... Feature race is the Backwards fastest lap..... Race rules are posted at the FCV website, www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca.

Track 1 sessions are filling up in April.... to book your time email info@ForestCityVelodrome.ca.