May 23, 2005 – It did not take long for the track record to be smashed by Vancouver racer Keith Thorarinson, who lowered the lap record at the 138m indoor Forest City Velodrome in London Ontario to 8.43 seconds at a speed of 58.93 km/h. It will not take very much longer before the 60 km/h barrier is broken – the magic time is 8.27 seconds.

Thorarinson set quick time in the 6-man sprint competition that continued throughout the evening program. Riders from across Canada took part in the “night of speed”. Jeff Bakal (Kingston) put in a strong effort throughout the night and was the eventual winner of the competition. beating Thorarinson in a hard battle in the final. Bakal who only started riding on the track less than a year ago, will be a contender at the Ontario Track Championships in June. Other sprinters who had great rides during the evening were Martin Laforest (Montreal) & 22 year old Taylor Martin (Hamilton) who had a knock down drag’m out (elbow to elbow) fight in the finals for 3rd and 4th place, Martin came out on top for 3rd.

In London Track League action, local London racers Amy Maher, Simon Dearing & Chris Hauk had very impressive nights winning the Scratch races, Sprints and Points races. Multi Laser team member Ken Reid rode very well in the Points race and the Scratch race at the end of the night.

The Forest City Velodrome had four new racers taking part in the program on Saturday. John Murray only started on the track a week ago, and was all smiles after his final race of the night. with a big grin on his face, John said, “This is a lot of fun, I still don’t know what I’m doing, and everyone gave me a lot of room. I’ll be back”. Veteran racers Martin Gledhill (Hamilton) and brothers Tim & Terry Detheridge (Brantford) were racing for the first time in over 20 years. Tim who was at the top of Ontario racing in the Mid – 70’s , came out of retirement to lose a few pounds and get back in shape for a healthier lifestyle. We will see how quick he can get over the next few weeks. Rumor has it, Tim wants to compete in a couple of Madison’s by the end of the summer.

7-year old Harry Gledhill broke his unofficial lap record by .2 seconds to 15.3 seconds. Again the crowd cheered him on during his three Flying lap attempts.

Also in action during the program were 5 BMX racers who put on five races during the night. These were demonstration races to introduce the local race fans to new Olympic Category for 2008. The FCVA wishes to thank all the BMX riders and Families for coming out to the Velodrome. We hope they can come back once their season winds down later in the summer.

In Madison action on the night, the powerhouse Orange team of Thorarinson & Martin put a lap on the field in the first Madison and won both sprints to take a commanding lead. Going into the Miss & Out, the strategy for the Red Team – Rob Good and Vince DeJong (Junior, Brantford) – who were in second place was to go to the front and hold off all the challengers. “The teamwork worked as we made it to the final 4 before my legs gave up,” said Good. Todd Chesky (Rochester NY) stuck it out to finish 3rd. That left Thorarinson and DeJong to sprint for the win – coming out of the final turn, Thorarinson came over the top to beat the Junior by inches.

All the teams were pretty much smashed with all of competing they had done, but the racing must go on. The Blue Team of Peirs Davidge and Kurt Schreiter put the early pressure on the field, their attack took almost 10 minutes to be brought back. With less than 10 laps to go in the race an accident took Thorarinson to the sidelines for the final sprint. Martin edged Mike Louther of Buffalo to the line to cement the win.

Racing continues next Saturday Night at 7 PM. Winterborne Custom Cycles from Guelph are Sponsoring the program. During the events the draw for a new track bike will take place. The value of the bike is over $1,900.00. All Boy Scouts are encouraged to attend.

General Admission Tickets can be purchased at the door. Adults $10.00, Seniors $5.00 Children under 8 are free.

For more information on Learn to ride programs go to www.ForestCityVeldorome.ca

FOREST CITY VELODROME
RESULTS MAY 21, 2005
LONDON TRACK LEAGUE

FLYING LAP
1. Keith Thorarinson 8.431
2. Jeffrey Bakal 8.852
3. Martin Laforest 9.013
4. Taylor Martin 9.174
5. Kurt Schreiter 9.185
6. Rob Good 9.316
7. Vince De Jong 9.507
8. Tim Detheridge 10.188
9. Terry Detheridge 10.29

EVENT — 10 LAP B SCRATCH RACE
1. Amy Maher
2. David Bryer
3. Terry Detheridge
4. Ken Reid
5. John Murray

EVENT — 10 LAP A SCRATCH RACE
1. Jeffrey Bakal
2. Martin Laforest
3. Martin Gledhill
n/a Simon Dearing
n/a Chris Hauk

EVENT — 7 LAP SCRATCH RACE
1. Jeffrey Bakal
2. Simon Dearing
3. Martin Gledhill

EVENT — 28 LAP RACE (POINTS 6,5,4,3,2,1)
1. Jeffrey Bakal 24 POINTS
2. Simon Dearing 19
3. Amy Maher 17 4. Ken Reid 12
5. Martin Gledhill 8
6. Tim Detheridge 4

5 LAP RACE
1. Amy Maher
2. Tim Detheridge
3. David Bryer
4. Terry Detheridge
5. John Murray

5 LAP RACE
1. Simon Dearing
2. Chris Hauk
3. Martin Gledhill

5 LAP RACE
1. Keith Thorarison
2. Rob Good

SPRINTS
1. Jeffrey Bakal
2. Keith Thorarison
3. Taylor Martin
4. Martin Laforet

MADISON FINAL RESULTS

1. TEAM ORANGE Taylor Martin, Keith Thorarison , 54 points
2. TEAM RED Rob Good, Vince DeJong, 1 Lap Behind, 50 points
3. TEAM GREEN Mike Louther, Todd Chesky, 3 Laps Behind, 44 points
4. TEAM BLUE Piers Davidge, Kurt Schreiter, 3 Laps Behind, 38 points

May 8, 2005 — The racing on Saturday night at the Forest City Velodrome in London, was fast and furious. Highbury Ford of London sponsored the night of racing which got off to a fast start with Keith Gauld (Waterloo Flying Dogs) of Simcoe out-sprinting Chris Helwig (Coachchris.ca) in the Unknown Distance event that kicked off the race night.

Members of the London Track League continued to race in three other events on that night. Helwig & Gauld were the strongest riders dominating the action with Gauld taking the 15-lap scratch race as Simon Dearing (coachchris.ca) squeaked into 2nd position just ahead of the charging Helwig. In the 10-lap sprint race the finishing positions were reversed with Helwig holding off Gauld for the win with Dearing crossing the line in 3rd position.

A crash involving Mary-Ellen Ash from Bay Cycle in Ajax put her out of the race on the final lap of the Handicap event won by Independent rider Jim Henning from Guelph, Vince Delong (Hamilton Cycling Club) finished 2nd with Phillip Thuss (London) came home in 3rd position.

All eyes were on Ash who lay on the infield for several minutes. She came out of her crash with six stitches above her eye. Her protective eyewear broke on impact and that is what caused the cut above her eye. It was good to see that she was all right and I spoke to her father today and Mary-Ellen is to resume training later this week.

The other action that filled the racing program were four teams of Nas-track Madison Racers who put on a great spectacle by racing there way through four events that night. In the Madison competition the teams make exchanges between their partners to place their teammate in the race. Each event has designated points which are accumulated throughout the night to include all the events, many times the winner of the race is not known until the final sprint in the last race of the night.

In the first 20 minute (150 Lap) Madisont he racing was very fast with lap times in the 9.7 second range which works out to 53 KPH on the 50 degree high banked corners of the 138 metre Velodrome. The high speed separated the teams for most of the event. In the final sprint Adam Thuss (London) of the Red Team out gunned the Yellow team of John Craig Jr. (London) and Taylor Martin (Hamilton). In hot pursuit for third place was Andre Champoux (Ann Arbor, Michigan) and Peirs Davidge (Burlington). Sprinting home in 4th place was the Orange Team of Amy Maher (London) the first woman to compete in Madison Racing at the Forest City Velodrome and Kurt Schreiter (Waterloo) a rookie to Madison racing.

The next event was the “Devil”. In this race the last rider across the line is eliminated. Thuss again came home the winner just out-sprinting the Yellow team riders Martin & Craig, with their second & third place finish the Yellow Team took over the points lead after two events.

In the Sprint race event Madison rookie, Kurt Schreiter surprised the other riders in the race as they lulled and Schreiter attacked to gain a 1/2 lap lead in the short event and gained his first victory of the season.

The final Madison of the night saw Maher & Schreiter attack the other teams who were all caught by surprise. The attack was short-lived as the Black team of Davidge & Champoux counter-attacked to spread the field out again. It wasn’t until the final sprint of the night where the Red team picked up the pace with five laps to go and crossed the finish line first with the Yellow team of Craig & Martin closing very quickly in the final metres to come home in second place.

A very entertaining Madison team race on the night.

Special thanks to Highbury Ford for their sponsorship of the event, and to all of the riders who participated in all the races on the evening.

Racing continues next Saturday night at 7pm with more thrills and action on the indoor Forest City Velodrome in London Ontario.

Up to date information can be found at www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca


Forest City Velodrome, London, Ontario
May 7, 2005

Unknown Distance
1. Keith Gauld 29
2. Chris Helwig 28
3. Simon Dearing 56
4. Jim Henning 34
5. Vince De Jong 25

Scratch (15 laps)
1. Keith Gauld 29
2. Simon Dearing 56
3. Chris Helwig 28
4. Jim Henning 34
5. Vince De Jong 25
6. Mary-Ellen Ash 24
7. Phillip Thuss 21

Madison Miss and Out
1. Adam Thuss Red2
2. Taylor Martin Yellow2
3. John Craig Yellow1
4. Rob Good Red1
5. Piers Davidge Black1
6. Andre Champoux Black2
7. Kurt Schreiter Orange2
8. Amy Maher Orange1

Handicapped (4 laps)
1 Jim Henning 34
2 Vince De Jong 25
3 Phillip Thuss 21
4 Simon Dearing 56
5 Keith Gauld 29
6 Chris Helwig 28
DNF Mary-Ellen Ash 24

Madison Teams Sprint 7 Lap– Section 1
1 Rob Good Red1 10
2 John Craig Yellow1 8
3 Piers Davidge Black1 7
4 Amy Maher Orange1 6

Madison Teams Sprint 7 Lap– Section 2
1 Kurt Schreiter Orange2 10
2 Andre Champoux Black2 8
3 Taylor Martin Yellow2 7
4 Adam Thuss Red2 6

Scratch (10 laps)
1 Chris Helwig 28
2 Keith Gauld 29
3 Simon Dearing 56
4 Vince De Jong 25
5 Jim Henning 34
6 Phillip Thuss 21

Madison Results (Totals from 4 events)
1. Rob Good Red1 74
Adam Thuss Red2
2 John Craig Yellow1 65
Taylor Martin Yellow2
3 Piers Davidge Black1 56
Andre Champoux Black2
4 Amy Maher Orange1 53
Kurt Schreiter Orange2

Final Madison Point Standing (All Events)
1 Red 74
2 Yellow 65
3 Black 56
4 Orange 53