October 23/05 9:41 am - London Track Six Day Racing

Posted by Editoress on 10/23/05
 

London Track Six Day - Day 2
Courtesy Rob Good

With the wind and rain coming down hard all day it could not dampen the spirits for the 300 spectators who cheered the riders through the second day of the London 6 Day at the Forest City Velodrome.

How the race unfolded:

The 138m Forest City Velodrome was rock'n on Saturday night. The 5 teams that are contesting the First 6 Day race in Ontario in 35 years were full value for the effort on the night.

The first of three 30 minute Madison's was very fast with little easing of the pace until the first series of sprints. In the sprints one rider from each team takes part in a separate sprint for points to determine the evening's winners. Team Orange representing Delhi, with riders Vince DeJong & Eric Robertson, out sprinted all of the other teams to go into the early lead. By the end of the first Madison DeJong & Robertson had a 4 point lead on the Yellow Team of John Craig Jr. & Jean Bertrand, representing the host city of London. All of the other teams were within striking distance.

During the intermission the race organizers had a surprise birthday celebration for 87 year old Albert Coulier who helped build the Velodrome.

The London Track League put on a number of races at the break to entertain the enthusiastic crowd.

In the second Madison, the young guns of Team Orange were at it again. At the 6 minute mark Robertson attacked hard opening a gap on the other teams in the race, only the Red Team of Adam Thuss & Rob Good were able to close the gap very quickly. The other teams could not come back to the two leaders and within 15 laps the Orange & Red Teams had put the other teams down a lap. The final sprint for double points at the end of the second Madison had the Blue Team of Taylor Martin & Kurt Schreiter jump with 4 laps and held onto the lead to capture the maximum points for that round of racing. Points at the end of the second Madison had Team Orange 1 point ahead of the Red Team.

The race was still up for grabs heading into the final Madison of the evening. The Green Team of Dave "no hands" St James & Keith Thorarison came out fighting setting the pace for much of the 30 minute go. During the sprints the Green Team managed a very impressive sprint to win one of the sprints, with Team Yellow surprising the other teams by attacking early and holding off the hard charging pack. Coming into the final sprint for double points it was Taylor Martin powering to a photo finish with the Red Team who, with the second place finish, took over the lead on points for the evening.

At the end of the night all the riders were very happy with the way they raced on the night, everyone is looking forward to getting back on the boards on Sunday afternoon at 2pm