January 9/12 8:40 am - FCV Thunder Pro Racing report

Posted by Editoress on 01/9/12
 

The infield at the Forest City Velodrome was full of racers Saturday night, with a large contingent of women to show who has early season form leading into the 2012 road season.

Twelve women lined up for their first endurance scratch race of the night. A quick pace had the pack on the edge of their saddles for the entire 40 lap event.  The lead changed hands frequently and, with six to go, Sara Rasmussen attacked and gapped the field by 15 metres. However, in the final lap, Rasmussen was caught by a hard charging pack that had the eventual winner Sara Byers, with Stephanie Bester and Kirsten Worley just pipping Rasmussen at the line.  This was a very entertaining opening event on the night.

The Invita-FCV Juniors had a solid night of racing, winning the Elite Madison (Will Simonds & Eric MacDonald), Miss and Out (Simonds), Endurance Scratch Race (Adrian George).  Twelve youth racers battled all night, with Ian Currie winning three events and newcomer Farleigh Creswicke finishing a very close second in two events on the night.

In the main event: the Thunder Pro Sprint Series was front and center as the largest crowd of the season filled the stands to see “The Sprinter Boys” duke it out on a special series of sprint races. Nineteen sprinters were entered in the single knockout event, win you move on .... lose and you better get ready for your next endurance race.

The first round saw all the usual suspects advance easily, except for one of our American friends who came to the FCV from Bloomer Park in Rochester Hills Michigan.  In the fourth heat of the night, Martin Veccio (Detroit) was the heavy favourite against newcomer Quinn Hanem (Waterloo).  In this heat race, Veccio attacked with over three laps to go. This was his undoing, as Hanem, having just completed the FCV Christmas Camp did not get dropped and managed to spin over the fading Veccio with 15 metres to go..... margin of victory was .013 seconds (a blink of an eye).

The nine rider semi-final had the athletes racing three up for the first time in a long time. Heads were on a pivot as the riders tried to keep an eye on their opponents, all the while calculating when the time to go for the line.....
Semi #1 had Daniel Mckenzie-Picot (coachchris.ca) and Eric MacDonald (Invita-FCV) go head to head.  In the final push to the line both riders finished under a blanket with the final lap times under 8.5 seconds for both riders..... Daniel M-P won by half a wheel with the hard charging MacDonald coming up a little short.

In Semi #2 Chris Singleton and Justin Morrow had another close sprint, with Singleton moving on to the Final, winning by two bike lengths.

Semi#3 had FCV veteran racer Mike Renneboog out-foxing the two speedy Juniors George and Simonds to the line.  Renneboog took control of the sprint and would not let his younger opponents get to the front.  In the end Adrian George battled to the line, however, came up just a little short.

This made for Junior vs Elite vs Master Final for sprint honours for the night.  Singleton took control right from the whistle and would not let McKenzie-Picot near the front. As the laps ticked by, the speeds went higher and higher.  Renneboog was the first to drop off the back, then with two laps to go Mckenzie-Picot tried to attack over Singleton. This plan almost worked, however, Singleton would not give up the bottom.  Both Sprinters were elbow to elbow right to the line with Chris Singleton taking the hard earned victory by a wheel over the Junior Daniel Mckenzie-Picot.

Full results

Racing continues Saturday January 21st, with the FCV Winter Nationals.  Youth racing begins at 4:00 pm (timed events), and the mass start races begin at 7 pm for all categories.

For more information on Track Cycling for all visit www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca .

Press release