October 28, 2013 (London, ON) – The Forest City Velodrome was built to stage Madison events, in the tradition of European Six Day Races.  On Saturday night the FCV went back to it’s roots and staged a spectacular event.  It was one of the best nights of racing since the doors were opened in Spring 2005.

Albert (Coulier) would have been proud of the teams and the style of hard nosed, in your face racing that the riders put themselves through on Saturday evening.  We had Madison riders come up from Detroit (Martin Veccio & Blaine Benson) to help spice up the racing, Ryan Aitcheson from Kitchener, one of Ontario’s top road and track racers also attended the event.  There was also numerous graduating young racers making the transition to fullon Madison racing.

Saturday night we had 6 Madison teams line up for the start of over 2 hours of racing action.

Too get the legs loosened up, the teams were sent off for a 20 minute (get a feel for your partner) Madison.  All the teams were mixed according to the ability of the partners.   The first Madison of the night included 2 sprints for points plus a set of points at the end to start to identify who were the strongest on the night.  The top 3 teams started to emerge after the first event, with Sarah Mason & Ryan Aitcheson taking over the top spot with 10 points in their pocket.  There were 3 teams tied on 5 points, Team Red – Logan McIntyre & Lorne Falkenstein, Team Yellow – Lucas Taylor & Blaine Benson, Team USA – Martin Veccio & Mark Buckaway.

Madison – Event #1

1. Purple – Ryan Aitcheson / Sarah Mason 10
2. Red – Lorne Falkenstein / Logan McIntyre 5
3. Yellow – Blaine Benson / Lucas Taylor 5
4. USA – Martin Veccio / Mark Buckaway 5
5. Green – Conrad Mrowiec / Ian Currie 1
6. White – Mike Nutall / Eric MacDonald  -1 Lap

Event #2 & #3
The teams were asked to separate the partners with one team member doing a Miss & Out, while the other teammate would contest a short 25 lap scratch race.  During the Miss & Out, Team Green – Ian Currie & Conrad Mrowiec took the top step on the podium out lasting runner up team Yellow who scored points jump into second position on GC (general classification).
In the 25 lap scratch race, all the teams tried to attack their way into the lead of the bike race, however, with all the teams on equal footing and no one wanting to go crazy and use themselves up (40 minute Madison to close the program) before the end.  With 5 to go a big move went over the top and a 20m gap was formed by the Yellow team (Taylor & Benson), no one wanted to chase and the gap grew to 1/2 a lap before Team Purple (Aitcheson & Mason) put there heads down to bring the attack back.  Their efforts were rewarded in the end with a last corner pass to Pipp, Benson at the line.  The scratch race results were Aitcheson (5 points), Benson (3 points), Falkenstein (2 Points), Veccio scoring the final point of the event.

Event #4
In Event #4 the sprinters teams would come to the front of the show as the penultimate event was a Team Time trial.  Each team needed to compete for 6 laps on the FCV boards, during the 6 laps each team needed to complete 2 handsling exchanges.  The quickest team would score the 5 points on offer.  The minor placings (2nd – 4th) would scoop up the remaining points for the event.

As expected the sprinter on Team White – Eric MacDonald & Mike Nuttal, came out on top and scored the 5 points with a total time of 56.07.  The Purple team of Mason & Aitcheson had the second quickest time of 57.17 to score 3 points and solidified their position at the top of the General Classification after 4 events.

Event #5 – 40 Minute Final Madison
A Madison of this length is a major test of fitness and strength.  The riders have to be aware of everything going on around the track, make clean exchanges, maintain speed on relief, close gaps, race on the Black Line, conserve energy, attack when the time is right…. You get the idea.

The Madison is like a ballet when executed properly, all six teams were making timely exchanges and all the riders were committed to each move they made.  Just to spice up the event and add extra drama to the proceedings the organizers made points available to the teams after each 10 minutes (4 additional sprints for points) during the Final Madison.  This is where most races on the track are won or lost and Saturday night was no exception.

There were many attacks by the teams trying to catch Team Purple who were at the back of the field.  Team White lost a lap late in the opening Madison tried attacking several times early, they spent too much energy, which ultimately put them down 3 laps in the end.  The teams at the front of the bike race were after each other throughout the last 30 minutes of the race, Purple was in trouble early with the team missing a few exchanges.  Team’s USA & Yellow were on a mission to get back on even terms with Purple as they had a solid lead on points.  The only way to win was to gain a lap.  USA and Yellow were very close to gaining the lap at the mid way point of the race, however, the sprint interrupted their advance and allowed Purple to get onto the back of the group without losing a lap.

Late in the going Team USA (Veccio) launched a vicious attack and gained 1/2 a lap very quickly on the field, Aitcheson sensing the danger of losing the lead, went after the visiting rider from Detroit.  Just as Aitcheson caught the USA team, an exchange was missed and Team USA had to do a double…. the kiss of death in Madison racing.  Seizing the opportunity Mason attacked coming up to Aitcheson with last than 5 minutes to go.  Aitcheson seeing that the lap was in their grasp, did a double pull to put the Purple team within 30m of the back of the field and Sarah Mason did the rest of the lap and secures the Victory for the Purple Team on Night #1 of the winter long Six Day events that will conclude February 22nd.

Here is how all the teams finished after the first night of Competition for the Belgium Nights Madison Series.

Madison Final

1. Purple – Ryan Aitcheson / Sarah Mason 29
2. Yellow – Blaine Benson / Lucas Taylor (-1 Lap) 23
3. USA – Martin Veccio / Mark Buckaway (-1 Lap) 15
4. Green – Conrad Mrowiec / Ian Currie (-2 Laps) 8
5. White – Mike Nutall / Eric MacDonald (-3 Laps) 23
6. Red – Lorne Falkenstein / Logan McIntyre (-3 Laps) 12

Full results here.