December 13, 2010 (London, ON) – The Forest City Velodrome was the center for racing on Saturday night with many racers coming out with the third major winter storm hitting London in a week. Riders hit the boards for sprint qualifying to start the racing program and in the first 7 minutes the hearty race fans witnessed some of the quickest qualifying times of the season.

Kristofer Ovsenek (Invta-FCV), 16, set quick time of all the racers with a time of 8.161 seconds (60.875 kph). The racers were split into 2 divisions, the fast 6 qualifiers in the “A” group, all of the other racers were placed in the “B” group to allow everyone a good opportunity to experience sprinting.

In the end, Junior racers were at the top of both divisions. Brian Trafford (Ottawa Bicycle Club) out lasted Drew Welsh (Invita-FCV), Candice Vemeulen (Invita-FCV) was a very competitive 3rd in the “B” final. In the “A” group sprint final, Mike Nuttall (Cycles London) was up against fast qualifier Ovsenek. Both riders know each other very well as they train with one another every week at the FCV, the 5 lap “A” final had Nuttall & Ovsenek swap the lead 3 times before the sprint started. With 2 to go Ovsenek attacked hard and opened up a 5-metre gap that Nuttall was unable to close and the 16 year old won his 7th tournament of the winter season.

Next on the race program were endurance races for the youth racers, plus the “A & B” divisions, The Kids put on another great race as the 25 laps were at their limit of endurance as most of the kids are under 12 years old. The 3 winners of the Handicaps were, Lucas Taylor, Logan McIntyre, & Mile Fullerton…. Miles doubled up with a very exciting win in the endurance race when he out lasted McIntyre by 1/2 a wheel at the finish. In the Unknown distance race +3 laps, the Kids were paced by Ryan Aitcheson who had just returned from racing in Europe. Ryan was on the front so the kids knew the speed to race at, and with 3 to go Aitchenson came off the track and it was a mad dash to the line with Exeter’s Nathon Finch winning a hard sprint to the finish line.

Other winners of the Endurance racers were Eric MacDonald (Cycles London) and Will Simonds (Invita-FCV). The Italian Pursuit lasted 13 minutes with Will Simonds out lasting all the other competitors to capture the win.

The last event on the night was the Ontario Madison Championships with 7 teams taking to the boards. In the 15 minutes plus 10 lap affair, 3 teams dominated the race, The eventual winners were the Invita-FCV team of Drew Welsh & Will Simonds who attacked early in the race and although they missed a couple of exchanges in traffic were the team to beat. Brian Trafford and John Hueston (Aylmer Express) came across the line a solid 2nd on the night and the Cycles London team of the Professor Lorne Falkenstien and young Eric MacDonald were in 3rd.

The next event at the FCV is our annual Christmas Camp between Christmas and New Year’s. The next race night will be Saturday January 8th 2011.

For all the information for the Forest City Velodrome programs, go to www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca

Full results here.