October 10, 2005 (London, ON) – 1982 Keirin World Champion, Gord Singleton from Niagara Falls, Ontario, put on quite a show on Saturday night, Oct. 8, at the Forest City Velodrome. Singleton wanted to keep a low profile at the event as it was his first time at the 138m Velodrome. That being said, he entered the Madison and did a couple of sprints to round out the night.

In the end, he was very happy with his performance, winning both sprints, with the leg speed and power of 20 years ago. In the Madison his team finished in 4th place, quite a thrill for his partner Martin Gledhill from Hamilton.

In sprinting you not only have to be able to think to out smart your rival, you also have to have fast legs – Singleton had both. Being able to turn the pedals at 150-165 rpm’s means that you can hit speeds above 60kph.

In unofficial timing the sprint heat that had Singleton against Jeff Bakal from Kingston (2005 Ontario Sprint Champion) riding for Multi-Laser, was clocked at 8.25 seconds, top speed of 60.352 Kph. This was just slower than our Lap Record of 8.17 seconds or 60.821Kph set by 2005 Canadian Pursuit Champion Zach Bell (Jet Fuel / Sympatico).

The sprint between Bakal & Singleton was very tactical with the riders jockeying for position for three of the five laps. With two laps remaining Bakal tried to come over the top of Singleton “” a mistake. Going down the back stretch with Bakal a 1/2 a wheel in front, Singleton turned up the leg speed (aka afterburners) and powered his way to 1/2 wheel victory in the Sprint event. Very exciting and the crowd loved it.

Complete race results are now up on our website: www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca

The evening was cut short by a nasty crash which happened after the finish of the Handicap Final. As the riders were coming across the finish line (under a blanket), the rider on the bottom of the track was bumped on to the apron, as the riders went through corners 1 & 2. The rider on the apron having run out of real estate moved up the track into the path of the rider directly over him. This lead to a chain reaction that caused five riders to go down. At the time Peirs Davidge seemed to be the rider in the most discomfort. Emergency staff tended to Davidge, a track regular. He went to hospital fearing a shoulder injury.

I spoke to Peirs on Sunday night and he said it was a long night, he is bruised with soft tissue damage in his shoulder but nothing is broken, just four weeks on the shelf. His bike did not fair as well as he “shortened up the bike by five inches” (destroyed it).

In light of the nasty crash, we are reworking both Friday night sessions & the Saturday night programs. Please check the website later in the week for more details.

Velodrome News:

– it’s two weeks until the first 6 Day Race in Ontario in 35 years. The 6 Teams are almost complete, I’m waiting to here from two riders to confirm the 12 “A” riders that will be participating in the London 6 Day Festival. We are also going to offer a “AA” division to race during the 6 Day, please email me to confirm your entry.

– Velo-Kids Saturday Noon – 2pm (must have taken a Learn to Ride course)

– Madison Training on Wednesday night, 7pm – 9pm. Racers “A” & “AA” welcome ( Race Skills & Learn to Madison Team Race)

– All sessions at the Velodrome are running this week starting Monday at 5 –
7pm with Beginner Recreational Riding, LTR at 7pm

Racing
– London Track League training races Friday night after the
Instructional session, 6pm – 9pm. “Admission Free” donations welcome
( Racing Skills & High Speed Race Simulations)

– Nas-Track Madison Team Racing ( pocket slings) Saturday Night at 7pm. Admission $10.00, Seniors $5.00 ( “A” & “AA” Madison
Team Races & Devils, Sprints) additional support from Velo-Kids

– Bicycle Swap Meet, T.B.A. I’m thinking November 5th, someone needs to
step forward to organize the event.

See you at the track
rg