March 31, 2008 – The Cadets and Juniors took center stage on the final night of the Forest City Velodrome’s March Madison Madness. During the two nights of racing the Kids were the stars of the show.

On Friday night the young riders were given the opportunity to race with the “A” Madison teams and 2 riders decided to give the longer and harder races a go. 13 year old Daniel McKenzie-Picot (London) and 15 year old John Carden (Paris) took the challenge and represented themselves very well. The youngsters raced throughout the night with the Cadets and Juniors and once the feature race took to the track on Friday, both riders held their own. Carden eventually won the event with partner Scott Lundy. A lap down in fourth, were the pairing of Vince DeJong and Daniel M-P.

The racing was clean and green with a ton of exhausted racers at the end of the night.

Saturday’s program was again based on the Madison with wild card riders in the mass start races to mix things up. It was also a night for the sprinters, as a very competitive 6 rider competition highlighted the night of racing.

In the “B” Madison races, points were accumulated during the 3 event Omnium with the team of Lisa Perlmutter (London) and Kyle Rupay (Peterborough) edging out Ray Gubala (Oshawa) and new rider Jamie Davis (NewMarket). A total of 6 teams kept the race fans on their toes during 2 Madison’s that the “B” teams competed in during the program…. some very tired racers in the end.

On the “A” Madison events for the second night in a row 15 year old John Carden (Paris) and Scott Lundy (London) dominated the night of racing by lapping the field in a very stressful 7 minute “Jam”. Team Blue, Ryan Aitcheson (Kitchener) and Lorne Falkenstein (London) came back from the disappointment Friday night of racing, to get within a few meters of the winners in the final 6 laps, as the eventual winners had missed their last couple of exchanges. All the Madison riders commented that the format worked out well with some teams doing well in the endurance races, and some doing better in the Madison’s . We plan to take a closer look at this format to be integrated into the September schedule.

Sprinters were also a big part of the racing on both Friday and Saturday nights. The quickest time of the weekend was set on Saturday by 16 year old Allan Leparskas (London) who blistered the track in 8.50 seconds. A total of 6 riders qualified for the sprint tournament (2 Juniors, 2 Masters and 2 Elite riders). In round #1 there were no upsets with the top qualifiers moving on to the Semi-finals. The big news happened in the reparcharge, with 16 year old Ryan Aitcheson using some old fashion tactics to take advantage of his opponents.

On to the Semis…. Leparskas just nipped Aitcheson at the line to advance and Ryan Crawford (London) out foxed Buffalo’s Ryan Nye to move on. In the final for the Gold medal (well bragging rights) Crawford used his quick jump to gap the young Leparskas by 5 bike lengths. All the riders watching from the infield thought the race was over, however, using his 3rd and 4th gear of acceleration the 16 year old battled back to come even with Crawford down the back stretch. The two were side by side through the last corner and with momentum on his side, Lesparskas edged Crawford at the line in a photo finish.

The spectators were on their feet cheering as both riders saluted the crowd during the victory lap.

Racing continues Saturday April 5th at 7pm with Rider Appreciation night at the FCV….. Feature race is the Backwards fastest lap….. Race rules are posted at the FCV website, www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca

Track 1 sessions are filling up in April…. to book your time email,
info@ForestCityVelodrome.ca

Results

March Madison Madness

Flying Lap

1. Allan Leparskas 8.50
2. Ryan Crawford 8.78
3. Lorne Falkenstein 8.90
4. Ryan Nye 8.91
5. Ryan Aitcheson 8.94
6. Rod Olliver 9.10
7. Scott Lundy 9.11
8. Mike Renneboog 9.22
9. Daniel McKenzie-Picot 9.46
10. Lisa Perlmutter 9.47
11. Jamie Davies 9.50
12. Doug Devine 9.63
13. Frank Mesi 9.80
14. Ray Gubala 9.80
15. John Carden 9.88
16. Trevor Dickensen 9.90
17. Ashley Barson 10.50
18. Amberley Berman 12.12
19. Devon Lowrie 13.35 (10 years old)
20. Kayla Bouchard 14.66 (11 years old)

Velo-kid Handicap

Kayla Bouchard
Devon Lowrie
Amberley Berman

Ladies/Cadets 5 minutes plus 10 laps

1. Jason King
2. Kyle Rupay
3. Trevor Dickensen
4. Ashley Barson
5. Emily McKenzie-Picot
Lisa Perlmutter DNF
Daniel McKenzie-Picot DNF

March Madness Sprint – Round 1

1. Alan Leparskas
2. Rod Olliver

1. Ryan Crawford
2. Ryan Aitchesen

1. Ryan Nye
2. Lorne Falkenstein

Repecharge

1. Ryan Aitchesen
2. Lorne Falkenstein
3. Rod Olliver

March Madness Sprint – Semi-Finals

1. Alan Leparskas
2. Ryan Aitchesen

1. Ryan Crawford
2. Ryan Nye

March Madness Sprint – Finals for 3rd and 4th

3. Ryan Aitchesen
4. Mike Renneboog (Ryan Nye withdrew)

March Madness Sprint Finals for 1st and 2nd

1. Alan Leparskas
2. Ryan Crawford

March Madison Madness – ‘A’ Teams

Team Miss & Out Scratch Race Madison Laps

1. Salmon (Scott Lundy, John Carden) 14 pts
2. Blue (Lorne Falkenstein, Ryan Aitcheson) 16 pts, 1 lap down
3. Orange (Ryan Nye, Frank Mesi) 12 pts, 1 lap down
4. Green (Mike Renneboog, Rod Olliver) 10 pts, 1 lap down
5. Yellow (Chris Vlemmix, Doug Devine) 12 pts, 2 laps down

March Madison Madness – ‘B’ Teams

Team Madison Scratch Race Madison Laps

1. Purple (Lisa Perlmutter, Kyle Rupay) 17 pts
2. Black (Ray Gubala, Jamie Davies) 17 pts
3. Yellow (Ryan Crawford, Alex McCallum) 14 pts
4. USA (Joe Brennan, Sarah McKenzie-Picot) 10 pts
5. Silver (Jason King, Emily McKenzie-Picot) 4 pts
6. Red (Rob Kowal, Daniel McKenzie-Picot) 6 pts