December 14, 2014 (London, ON) – You can tell the track scene in Ontario is exploding with the anticipated opening of the Milton Velodrome for the National Championships in January. A total of 58 athletes crowded into the infield at the Forest City Velodrome on Saturday night for the Aylmer Express GP.  The program had a combination of Sprint & Endurance events.

The evening started with 6 different divisions of racers divided into age and ability categories which seems to provide the best level of competition for the 138m indoor velodrome in London Ontario.  The Points races where the first up to entertain the bustling crowd in attendance.  The Points race is a track race with intermediate sprints at specific times during the event.

All of the categories had very competitive racing with all the races coming down to the final sprint and very few points between 1st and 2nd positions. (complete results here)

In the Elite Points race, there was lots of action right from the opening whistle.  The 2014 U23 National Road Champion and newly signed Silber Pro Cycling team member Ben Perry, put on a clinic by lapping the field and scoring the most points during the intermediate sprints to win the opening race of the night.  Also in attendance was Adam Jamieson (NCCH) who just returned from the London World Cup track meet, where Adam was a member of the Men’s Team Pursuit program.  Adam was second overall with 20 points, Lucas Taylor (Kallisto-FCV) finished in third.

The Sprint Tournament was also very competitive with both men & women’s categories coming down to who attacked their opponent first.  Coming over riders at the FCV is quite difficult, however, in the women’s final, Charlotte Creswicke (Kallisto-FCV) had to give it a go as Sara Byers (Kallisto-FCV) attacked the first year Cadet with 2 laps to go in the final.  Creswicke has been gaining confidence with her second place (Silver medal) at the Junior National Championships at Burnaby in November.

As Byers lead out the sprint with 2 to go, Creswicke did not give up and with cat like leg speed the youngster put a scare into the Elite racer with a burst of speed coming out of corner 2 and managed to come along side Byers.  Both racers gave each other just enough room and Byers had the preferred line on the exit of corner 4 and was able to hold on for a hard fought victory.

Eric MacDonald (CoachChris.ca) just had too much speed and power as he was able to hold off Lucas Taylor (Kallisto-FCV) and win the men’s tournament by 3 bike lengths…. all these riders will be competing in the Milton Challenge in January.

Prior to the start of the Elite men’s scratch race the Aylmer Express Newspaper who have supported the FCV for the last 9 years, made a presentation to the FCV from the 3 Port Tour.  Brett, John & Renee Hueston along with Krista Johnson made a donation of $5,800 from monies raised at their Grand Fondo – The 3 Port Tour.  All the members of the FCV and London Cycling community would like to thank the Hueston’s and the Aylmer Express for their continued support of the FCV.

The last race of the night, an 80 lap Endurance scratch race for the Elite division had multiple riders lapping the field.  14 riders took to the rail to wait for their instructions.
The event started fast and never slowed, 25 laps into the race 3 riders lapped the field (Jamieson, Perry and Taylor).  Others where all trying to get back on even terms with the 3 leaders, however, the pace was kept high and no one could make a move.  With 20 laps to go Perry attacked with the only rider able to respond was the young 15 year old from London, Lucas Taylor.  Shortly after the 2 had taken their second lap, Jamieson needed to get back into the hunt.  Jamieson got within 10 metres of the back of the field with 10 to go, when Bayley Simpson & Ian Currie (Kallisto-FCV) went to the front and buried themselves to keep Jamieson from lapping the field.
This left Perry and Taylor as the only 2 riders up 2 laps and Jamieson up 1 lap.  As the laps came down, Perry attacked Taylor and was able to hold Taylor at bay and Perry was able to take his second win of the night.

The FCV wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas. The next racing at the FCV will be the 2015 FCV Youth Championship on New Years day.  All Youth Categories will be competing in a 5 event timed Omnium.  U11, U13, U15, U17 & U19 riders are welcome to attend.

Full results here.

For more information about programs at the FCV, please go to the website here.