March 28/11 11:54 am - Forest City Velodrome Grand Prix

Posted by Editoress on 03/28/11
 

Forest City Velodrome Grand Prix, March 26th in London Ontario
 
Racers continue to impress at the Forest City Velodrome.  The infield was full on Saturday night at the FCV as the racers prepared for the evenings events.  12 teams were entered in the Madison competition so the organizers split the racers into 2 divisions and provided the race fans with 2 Madisons during the nights race program.
 
In the "B" madison the team of Amy Biskaborn and Chris Vlemmix (Team TVC/Village cycle) took top honours in the final sprint against new comer Adam Pol and his veteran partner Rhys Bateman.  A total of 5 teams put on a great madison demonstrating the skill of the FCV newer racers.  In the "A" Madison 7 teams rolled off the rail for their 200 lap affair.  Early in the race the Red team of Eric MacDonald & Ryan Aitcheson held the lead until a couple of missed exchanges cost them in the final 10 laps to finish 3rd.  Capitalizing were the team of Scott Lundy and Mike Renneboog who attacked with 5 laps to go taking the hard fought victory.  Finishing on the podium was the young team of 15 year old standout Will Simonds & Geoff Power.
 
The track had to make quick adjustments to the sprint competition, when 31 riders entered the tournament.  The FCV had our new scoring monitor in operation for the first time, we wanted to feature the quickest riders doing flying laps.... as it turned out the spectators could follow the riders and watch how they finished.  The quickest rider on the night was 16 year old Kris Ovsenek (Invita-FCV) who stopped the clock with (no aero equipment) in a blistering 8.074 seconds (61.531 kph).  Kris Ovsenek and Daniel Mckenzie-Picot are in the final phase of preparation for the Junior Pan Am Championships in Argentina (April 11-17).
 
The 3 separate sprint tournaments came down to excellent finals.  Richard Ugalde (Racer/Sportif) winning the B series.  Amy Biskaborn just pipped Candice Vermeulen (Invita/FCV) at the line to take the top podium spot in the Women's sprints.  Turning to the "A" division the sprint final was again a match between the two 16 year olds (Ovsenek & McKenzie-Picot).  The 2 did not disappoint the spectators who were waiting all night to watch the sprint final.  In the 5 lap dash, Daniel took control early and as the laps clicked away; the 2 watched one another ready to attack when the time was right.... as it turned out the time was right at the same time for both competitors.  Both riders jumped and Mckenzie-Picot (Coachchris.ca) took the early advantage, in a blink of an eye Ovsenek accelerated over the top with 150m to go.  The 2 battled elbow to elbow with Ovsenek (Invita-FCV) eventually taking the victory in a excellent final event.
 
The youth racers were out in full force and even the young kids had to be split into 3 divisions. One of the hi-lights of the night was the HandiCap race win by 7 year old Jacob (ask one question) Henning. The women's races were dominated by Sarah Rasmussen (Hamilton Cycling Club). Elite endurance races were won by Ryan Aitcheson (Panter Racing).  The "B" division had several winners including Eric MacDonald (Cycles London), Mike Aston (To Wheels), Craig Sarri (FCV), Adam Pol (Waterloo Cycling Club).
 
The next race at the Forest City Velodrome, is scheduled for Saturday April 2nd.  The Mary Kelly Memorial (100 lap race for women) is the featured event.  There is racing for all categories including the FCV Youth Racers during the race night on April 2nd.
 
For more information about recreational programs and racing, go to www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca  

Full results

Press release