November 21, 2011 (London, ON) – Youth & Junior racers continue to lead the way during the winter racing series at the Forest City Velodrome in London Ontario. A total of 51 racers were on hand last Saturday night to contest race #7 (Les Domestiques Grand Prix) at the FCV. The racers had several diferent styles of races to choose from on the night, with most competing in as many events as their legs would let them.
The evening started out with our Youth Madison taking to the boards for a spirited Madison, the skill of these 12 and 13 year old racers continues to improve. Dave Byer from Toronto, made his 2011 racing debut with the kids during the Madison and was amazed at the speed and skills that racers are developing at the FCV. The youth Madison was won by local London racers Lucas Taylor (Team Attack) and Will Simonds (Invita-FCV).
In the women’s category, there was a 4 way battle all night in all the races between, Stephaine Bester – CoachChris.ca (1 win), Candice Vermeulen–Invita-FCV (1 win), Sarah Rasmussen Kallisto/Wheels of Bloor, and new comer Stephanie Morrison–Invita-FCV. All of the women competed in a series of women’s races as well as jumping into the Masters Miss & Out. All of the women are getting ready to take on the United States and Quebec riders next weekend at the 6th annual CanAmQue Challenge.
One of the new races that the FCV has introduced over the past 4 weeks is the Last Person Standing event. This racebrings into it all the atributes of all track races, from starting to catching and passing riders plus the winner has to have the endurnce to last many minutes while you pursue the rider that is right in front of you. In all 3 events on the Saturday night spectators were given the opportunity to see what bike racing is all about, mental toughness, fitness, speed and endurance all played a factor in the end result. Races usually only take a couple of minutes however because of the handicaps the last 2 riders in each race had to keep the pressure on the pedals for 8 and 9 minutes…. The crowd was going wild as the riders gained a little bit, then lost time. In the end, Ian Currie (Team Attack) won the youth race, Adam Poll (Waterloo CC) won the Elite race, with Candice Vermeulen (Invita-FCV) triumpant in the Women’s event.
In a effort to raise the fitness of all the riders at the FCV we had our 2nd Sprint Tournament, this Grand Prix style of event had 8 starters with a quick opening round that produced one upset with Eric MacDonald attacking his opponent Daniel McKenzie-Picot with 2 to go in the preliminary round to advance directly into the Semi-Finals, Mckenzie-Picot had the quickest time of the night 8.569 seconds in a losing effort, at the FCV you have to attack first and take your chances. Team Invita-FCV placed all 4 riders into the sprint Semi- Final, Chris Singleton and MacDonald continued to be the quickest and fastest riders on the night continuing the sub 9 second performances. In the final, Adrian George took the measure of Will Simonds and claimed Bronze. In the Gold medal tilt Singleton used his horse power to go over the young MacDonald with a lap to go to lay claim to the Sprint Grand Prix win. The winning margin was .027 of a second.
For all the race results from the weekend, please click HERE.
Racing continues this Saturday night with the 6th annual CanAmQue Challenge, this race night is a different format from all other track races and is the FCV’s biggest night of the year.
Racing begins at 7pm, Adult admission $10.00, seniors $5.00, Kids are always FREE.
Visit HERE for more information