October 24, 2005 – Racing at the Forest City Velodrome in London Ontario was “Super Competitive” on Sunday afternoon. The five evenly matched teams battled it out right down to the last double points sprint of the session. The Red Team from Waterloo did not win a single sprint in the event. However by finishing high in each segment they were able to retain the overall lead in the bike race.

How it unfolded:

The Orange Team from Delhi, Started the 1st – 30 minute Madison with a substitute rider Greg Palmer from the London Track League because of a mix-up in start times with Eric “Sleepy” Robertson. Robertson who was napping 20 minutes before the official start time of 2 pm. Eric “Sleepy”, did arrive in time for the second Madison of the day, his miscue was costly as his partner Vince Dejong had to spend a lot of energy during the event and the team was in a hole on points from the mid session sprints. The strong Hamiton Blue Team of Taylor Martin & Garnett Abbey captured the win for double points and vaulting into 2nd place.

The London Track League had a very entertaining “AA” Madison. The Velo-Kids also had several events to showcase their young talent. The Velo- Kids range in age from 7 – 11 years old.

In the 2nd Madison the Delhi Team attacked often to gain a much needed lap because of their earlier problems. They could not get the gap they were looking for so all Robertson & DeJong could do was accumulate as many points as they could before the end of the show. During the “Devil” (miss & out) – (picture below) Robertson out lasted the other teams to take the top prize of seven points. With the laps winding down The local London Yellow Team, attacked with six laps to go and for double points on the line, John Craig Jr made a perfect exchange with Bermuda (Jean Bertrand ) who “took it to the house” for a very impressive win. There were 7 points separating the top four teams with 30 minutes to go in the final Madison.

The high speed of the race made the last 30 minutes of the weekend a leg breaker. Everyone was in survival mode as the teams regrouped to be able to finish strong and eat into the Red Team’s slight lead on points. The Jams were constant in the final session. Team Green from Vancouver with Keith Thorarison and Dave “no hands” St James, caught the other teams in the middle of an exchange and quickly gained a 1/4 lap advantage, this continued until a fast moving train developed behind them and slowly but surely they were reeled in, leading up to the points sprints at the mid-way mark of the session. The two winners in these sprints were Team Blue & Team Green, according to the speedo on one of the bikes the top speed in the sprint was 68.2 kph, unbelievable for this short 138m Velodrome. With 15 minutes remaining the top four teams were five points apart. All of the racers knew that the final double points sprint would determine the final placing on the night. The pace heated up with 10 to go, the dash to the line exploded with three to go with the final exchanges behind the riders who would cross the line to win the night. In the end Team Blue from Hamilton pushed across the line just ahead of the Red Team from Waterloo with teammates Adam Thuss and Rob Good who retained the overall lead in the 6 Day.

Racing continues Next Friday Night October 28th at 7pm.

Adult admission is $10.00, Seniors get in for $5.00

More information can be found at www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca

See you at the track,

Rob Good