May 2/05 12:03 pm - Forest City Velodrome Grand Opening: Photos, Report, Results

Posted by Editoress on 05/2/05
 

Photos part one by Jim Crosscombe part two by Brad Day.


Report from Rob Good

What a night. Local dignitaries were escorted into the Velodrome by a Scottish Bag Piper (sent chills down my spine). The national anthem was sung by 2 London area singers who did a super job and thrilled the crowd with their ending. The ceremonial ribbon cutting was handled by Bud Polhill from the City of London, Aaron Hershoff from the Canadian Cycling Association and Ontario Cycling Association President Jim Crosscomb, whom also committed $5,000.00 this year and a matching amount for the 2006 season. This money will be used for rider development with regular training camps for the High Performance Athletes in the Province.

Once again the seats were filled at the Velodrome with new and old cycling fans, waiting to see if the lap record would fall. As expected the lap record was shattered by Toronto sprinter Brooks Rapley in a time of 8.90 seconds.

Lots of action took place in the women's events with Julia Bradley winning 2 of 3 races on the night, Mao Pryer coming home for the win in the 10 lap sprint race.

Fourteen year old sensation, Matt Robertson, from the Waterloo Flying Dogs, got the crowd on their feet cheering as he made a bold move over the top of the pack in the 25 lap scratch race. He stayed in the lead for 8 laps with all the encouragement of the race fans. Robertson was caught with 1 lap to go by fellow Flying Dog, Richard Bell, who was severely reprimanded for taking his hands off the bars as he crossed the line. In other action, Lawrence Laroux from Montreal and Todd Scheske from Rochester NY put their names in the record books by winning on the evening.

Local track racer Chris Hauk, had 3 tremendous races on the night, Hauk attacked late in the scratch race to win by 3 bike lengths. In his other events he came a little short for the win, but second and third were his best results of the season.

In the featured Madison event, for the Nas-Track Madison League, 5 teams took to the track with 2 teams from the Detroit area and 3 teams from Ontario. The event started off under control since 3 of the riders were starting their first Madison. Early in the event, 19 year old Adam Thus had a spill during an exchange and destroyed his bike ( a borrowed unit, I hope the owner isn't too mad!!) and thus could not continue. This left Veteran Madison competitor Taylor Martin to continue on his own. This turned out to be to his advantage as he was going in & out with the Red Team who went on to lap the field 3 times during the event. In the final sprint Martin took control of the race and sprinted for the victory in the 2nd Madison of the season. Team Red with 18 year old Eric Robertson, took double pulls all night to eventually end up in second. Other local riders Piers Davidge & Nic Laughton were third after dominating the Miss & Out. The Toledo & Detroit team of Dave Theil and Jim Houston out sprinted local London rider John Craig Jr. and his partner Terry Palmer for 4th position in the final.

Racing continues this Saturday night with a full slate of racing action. Rumour has it, several of the women have challenged the men to be included in the Madison. This should be very interesting for the local cycling fans planning to attend the Racing.

For more information check out our website: www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca

The winner of the Logo design contest was Image #1 submitted by Joe McNamara from St. Andrews West in Eastern Ontario, we thank every one who submitted a design and the over 700 individuals that voted for all eight Logo finalists.

On Wednesday night members of the Velodrome will be practicing & training in preparation for Saturday nights event. If you are planning to race in the Madison you should come out to get some instruction and practice.

A video from the first race night, video from Kris Westood CCA. Thanks Kris download here

Flying Lap
1. Brooks Rapley (78) 8.90
2. Terry Palmer (Black1) 8.92
3. Rob Good (Red2) 9.00
4. Taylor Martin (Gold2) 9.05
5. Eric Robertson (55) 9.24
6. Lawrence Leroux (8) 9.42
7. Todd Scheske (28) 9.62
Rapley's time is a new track record.

"C" Scratch (20 laps)
1. Julia Bradley
2. Emma Wensing
3. Maogosha Pyjor
DNF. Shelly Christensen

"B" Scratch Race (25 laps) -- Section 1
1. Kevin Black
2. Kurt Schreiter
3. Ernesto Alvarez
4. Jim Henning
5. Doug Fraser
6. Glen Hofman
DNF. Ken Reid

"B" Scratch Race (25 laps) -- Section 2
1. Richard Bell
2. Chris Hauk
3. Garnett Abbey
4. Keith Gault
5. Matt Robertson
6. Orlando Goveia
7. Larry Garstick
DNF. Vince De Jong

"A" Scratch (25 laps)
1. Todd Scheske
2. Brooks Rapley
3. Lawrence Leroux
4. Don Andrews
5. Mark Goveia

Miss and Out
1. Piers Davidge (Orange1)
2. Rob Good (Red2)
3. Nick Laughton (Orange2)
4. Jim Houston (Black1)
5. Taylor Martin (Green2)
6. Terry Palmer (Gold1)
7. Adam Thuss (Green1)
8. John Craig (Gold2)
9. Eric Robertson (Red1)
10. Dave Teale (Black2)

1. Orange, 10 points
2. Red, 8
3. Black, 7
4. Green, 6
5. Gold, 5

"C" Unknown Distance
1. Julia Bradley
2. Maogosha Pyjor
3. Emma Wensing

"B" Unknown Distance -- Section 1
1. Kevin Black
2. Kurt Schreiter
3. Ernesto Alvarez
4. Doug Fraser
5. Jim Henning
6. Vince De Jong

"B" Unknown Distance -- Section 2
1. Matt Robertson
2. Chris Hauk
3. Garnett Abbey
4. Richard Bell
5. Keith Gault

"A" Unknown Distance
1. Lawrence Leroux
2. Todd Scheske
3. Mark Goveia
4. Brooks Rapley
5. Don Andrews

Madison Teams Sprint -- Section 1
1. Adam Thuss (Green1) 10 points
2. Eric Robertson (Red1) 8
3. Piers Davidge (Orange1) 7
4. John Craig (Gold2) 6
5. Dave Teale (Black2) 5

Madison Teams Sprint -- Section 2
1. Terry Palmer (Gold1) 10 points
2. Taylor Martin (Green2) 8
3. Rob Good (Red2) 7
4. Jim Houston (Black1) 6
5. Nick Laughton (Orange2) 5

"C" 10 Lap Sprint
1. Vince De Jong
2. Julia Bradley
3. Maogosha Pyjor
4. Ernesto Alvarez
5. Emma Wensing

"B" 10 Lap Sprint
Place. Name
1. Kevin Black
2. Chris Hauk
3. Keith Gault
4. Kurt Schreiter
5. Richard Bell
6. Garnett Abbey
7. Doug Fraser
8. Jim Henning
DNF. Matt Robinson

"A" 10 Lap Sprint
Place. Name
1. Todd Scheske
2. Mark Goveia
3. Lawrence Leroux
4. Brooks Rapley
5. Don Andrews

Final Point Standing (All Events)

1. Red 67 points
2. Green 58
3. Orange 54
4. Black 44
5. Gold 39

Red's total includes 10 points for being ahead on laps at the end of the Madison