August 21/03 10:32 am - Michigan 6 Day Report, UCI MTB Rule Change

Posted by Editor on 08/21/03
 

NAS Track 6 Day
Report Rob Good

The last 6 day race I can remember was in the Early 70's on the indoor track in Delhi. J Lovell, P Penman, P Junek, Tim Dethridge were some of the riders that entertained the crowds every night at the 6 day event. When Dale Hughes indicated that Detroit would host a 6 day race I said I was in. I missed my chance to suffer 30 years ago, so last night was a first opportunity to test myself against a great bunch of racers from Michigan & Ohio. My partner for the night was Dave Teall from Toledo. 8 teams registered for the 6 day, our largest turnout of teams all season in the NASTRACK Series.

The first 3 events were mass start races to accumulate points, to see who would be the overall Champion during the 6 day race. The first event went as predicted, Tony Burly, a powerhouse road racer, got on the front of the pack for the 2 mile scratch race. By lap 4 of the 16 lap event I thought, "oh oh! This is not going to be pretty". I was on a great wheel of Dave Koesel, another Detroit road racer (who trains with Frankie Andreu when he is not on the road for OLN) This guy is strong & never quits. That said, all I remember was with 1 Lap to go the announcer said the last lap was 11.8 well over 60 kph. Can you spell fried, yup. Legs gone, I limped home out of the points in 6th. Big effort for nothing.

Next the Miss & Out. Predictably, Tony on the front set another hard tempo, in the 3rd sprint I knew it was close and you never want to hear your name to be called out, but you guessed it, out I came. "Ripp'n" Ronnie Sink & Andre Champoux battled it out for the win with Ripp'n Ronnie edging Andre by inches at the line.

Time to regroup for the Bavarian Win & Out. With no points I thought I had to do something against these Senior 1-2 brutes. Take the first sprint, score some points, get into the bike race. Off we went and finally a plan came together: I jumped, didn't hear anyone behind me, took a quick peak just to make sure, scored my point, let the big dogs race around for the next 15 laps while I rested & changed my gear for the Madison. In-line speed skater Terry Palmer took the win in a the sprint to the line, with Ripp'n Ronnie just getting nipped at the line to score no points. Interesting race - you have to score points when you can in these type of races.

The last event of the night was the Madison, 25 min. of suffering, The AA riders are matched with an A rider, with teams changing every night in the Madison. Dave & I wanted to stay near the front throughout the race so that our exchanges were clean & steady. That plan worked very well and we did not have to close any gaps during the action. With 2 laps to go & double points on the line we were in 4th position & challenging for a top 3 finish. The final exchange came with another rider blocking our exchange, so we had to wait which caused us to lose 4 positions on the final lap. We still accumulated 10 points, but a far cry from the 16 or 18 we would have received. That's it for now, Racing begins tonight at 7 pm in Rochester Hills Michigan. www.nastrack.com for directions.

Day 1

A Riders - 2mi Sprint
1st - Rippin Ronnie
2nd - Dave Koesel
3rd - Terry Palmer
4th - Tony Bruley
5th - Andre Champoux

AA Riders - 2mi Sprint
1st - Nic Laughton
2nd - Cullen Watkins
3rd - Michael Bauhof
4th - Mark Freed
5th - Dave Teall

A Miss & Out
1st - Rippin Ronnie
2nd - Andre Champoux
3rd - Pio Apostilo
4th - Tony Bruley
5th - Dave Koesel

AA Miss & Out
1st - Nic Laughton
2nd - Michael Bauhof
3rd - Cullen Watkins
4th - Dave Teall
5th - Wayne Cook

A Win & Out
1st - Terry Palmer
2nd - Dave Koesel
3rd - Tony Bruley
4th - Andre Champoux
5th - Rob Good

AA Win & Out
1st - Dave Teall
2nd - Mark Freed
3rd - Cullen Watkins
4th - Wayne Cook
5th - Nic Laughton

A/AA Madison - 25mins.
1st - Jon Hughes & Nic Laughton - 28pts
2nd - Rippin Ronnie & Michael Bauhof - 26pts
3rd - Dave Koesel & Chris Hughes - 21pts
4th - Andre Champoux & Cullen Watkins - 17pts
5th - Terry Palmer & Mark Freed - 16pts
6th - Pio Apostoli & Wayne Cook - 11pts
7th - Rob Good & Dave Teall - 10pts
8th - Tony Bruley & Hans Peterson - 6pts

Overall Standings after Day 1 - Detroit 6 Day
A Riders
1st - Rippin Ronnie - 36pts
2nd - Dave Koesel - 30pts
3rd - Jon Hughes - 28pts
4th - Andre Champoux - 24pts
5th - Terry Palmer - 24pts
6th - Pio Apostoli - 14pts
7th - Tony Bruley - 13pts
8th - Rob Good - 11pts

AA Riders
1st - Nic Laughton - 39pts
2nd - Michael Bauhof - 33pts
3rd - Cullen Watkins - 27pts
4th - Mark Freed - 22pts
5th - Chris Hughes - 21pts
6th - Dave Teall - 18pts
7th - Wayne Cook - 14pts
8th - Hans Peterson - 6pts

Day 2
1st Dave Koesel, Livonia & Wayne Cook, Mt. Clemens
2nd Andre Champoux, Ypsilanti & Mark Freed, Mt. Pleasant
3rd Tony Bruley, Rochester Hills & Nick Lawton, Rochester Hills
4th Ronnie Sink, Rochester & Dave Teal, Toledo, Ohio
5th Rob Good, Toronto & Mike Bauhof, Troy
6th Terry Palmer, Macomb Twp. & Cullen Watkins, Royal Oak
7th Pio Apostoli, Toledo & Christopher Hughes, Rochester Hills
8th Jon Hughes, Rochester Hills & Hans Peterson, Northville

Overall Standings as of Day 2
"A"
1st Ronnie Sink, Rochester 66 Pts.
2nd Dave Koesel, Livonia 58
3rd Andre Champoux, Ypsilanti 52
4th Terry Palmer, Macomb Twp., 44
5th Tony Bruley, Rochester Hills, 42
6th Jon Hughes, Rochester Hills, 36
7th Pio Apostoli, Toledo, Ohio 30
8th Rob Good, Toronto, 27


"AA"
1st Nick Lawton, Rochester Hills 69 Pts.
2nd Michael Bauhof, Troy 51
3rd Mark Freed, Mt. Pleasant 49
4th Cullen Watkins, Royal Oak 46
5th Wayne Cook, Mt. Clemens 45
5th Dave Teal, Toledo, Ohio 45
7th Christopher Hughes, Roch. Hills 33
8th Hans Peterson, Northville 17


UCI Mountain Bike Rule Amendment

Statement from the UCI regarding the use of 29" wheel bikes for mountain bike racing.

At its last meeting on 3 and 4 July of this year, the UCI Management Committee decided, at the proposal of the MTB Commission, to amend the rules, which had until now specified that the maximum wheel diameter for MTBs was 26 inches.

In the past athletes could choose whether to use 24 or 26 inches. From 1 January 2004 they will also have the choice of using wheels with a maximum diameter of 29 inches.

Before this decision was taken the MTB Commission had sought advice from many quarters. After much research and consideration they had decided that none of the arguments put forward against the move would really be harmful to the development of the discipline.

A number of very positive arguments were raised:

1. Ever since its creation, and since it became part of UCI and the big family of cycling, MTB has always been a great "laboratory" for the development of cycling equipment. MTB is not governed by strict "Equipment" rules. This philosophy has allowed significant technological advances to be made for all disciplines. UCI has always wished to give free rein to the development of the MTB provided that this does not jeopardise the safety of the athletes or of the discipline itself.

2. This openness of the rules in some cases allows MTB practitioners to enjoy increased safety.

3. A number of practitioners (particularly in mass or cross-country events) have already been using MTBs with 29-inch wheels for some years. It would have been unfair, and against the interests of our sport, to exclude them from events in the international MTB calendar. Furthermore, taking into account the very strong development of the Marathon format Cross-country (which we wish to encourage), it is apparent that it would be extremely difficult for the commissaires to police the start lines of events with several thousand entrants.

4. The most important thing to bear in mind is that there is no obligation in this rule amendment; the choice of wheel diameter is still left up to each athlete. A change to the wheel diameters will not alter the nature of MTB events; on the other hand it is important that the choice of cross-country routes remains true to the spirit of the discipline.

This rule amendment, which comes into force on 1 January 2004 and which does not oblige anyone to anything, is simply a sign of openness and progress. There is no reason why this logical and positive development should not be beneficial to MTB.

Régis Alexandre
Mountain Bike Coordinator