November 26, 2005 – Day Four of the Gent 6-Day Races is in the books but not before a three-person crash and a suspension of the racing for the night. Before another sellout crowd the fourth night of racing began with the introduction of the riders, including Marco Villa, who returned after falling ill on Day Three and had to abandon during the first Madison. Abandoning a six-day race is not common for the 36-year-old veteran. Of the 116 six-day races Villa has started he has the amazing record of finishing 115.

The Points Race opened up the evening’s action. Immediately Robert Slippens and Danny Stam started to hammer taking the first sprint and De Fauw/Beikirch took second. In the final sprint Matthew Gilmore edged Slippens for the victory but Slippens/Stam won the overall being the team to score the most points.

The Team Elimination Race was the next event and it started with a three-rider crash. Matthe Pronk, Gerd Dorich and Steve Schets went down heavily in front of the judges’ stand just before the finish line The crash actually took place when those riders that had been eliminated from the race collided while circling the bottom of the track. No one was hurt and the riders had a good laugh that they had been eliminated twice.

The Team Elimination Race is snapshot of the “who’s who” status of the 6-day race. Bartko/McGrory, Gilmore/Keisse, Slippens/Stam and Risi/Betschart are the top four teams. Risi/Betschart were the first team to be eliminated quickly followed by Bartko/McGrory. Now we were down to five laps of cat and mouse for the final two teams: Slippens/Stam and Gilmore/Keisse. Gilmore was 10 meters behind Slippens with less than a lap to go and then Gilmore let go with the afterburners rocketing past Slippens at the line. The Gent fans were ecstatic. With this victory Gilmore/Keisse passed the 200-point mark and thus were awarded a bonus lap. The Gent favourites now have 213 points, compared to their closest rivals Bartko/McGrory who are ahead in points with 214 but down one lap.

The night’s racing continued with the Flying Sprint. It was close again as Slippens/Stam won with a speed of 68.965km/hr over Bartko/McGrory in second with 68.650km/hr, Gilmore/Keisse at 67.950km/hr in third and Nothstein/Llaneras with 67.873km/hr in fourth.

Slippens/Stam won the Madison and gained a bonus lap for passing 200 points. Gilmore/Keisse came in fourth and Bartko/McGrory was fifth.

During the racing Rob Hayles (GBr) abandoned due to injuries suffered from an earlier fall. Marco Villa (Ita) had to abandon as well. A new team was formed with Franco Marvulli (SWI) and Mark Cavendish (GBr). According to the UCI rulebook Villa and Hayles both have 36 hours to re-enter the racing or their teams are dissolved and the new team becomes official.

After several more races including the Kaisersprint, Derny heats and the 500m Time Trial all of a sudden the lights began to flicker and the emergency lights in het Kuipke came on. The lighting was so poor the racing paused. Gerd Dorich started a procession of riders around the track attempting to get the spectators to form a wave. Then at 1:00am the announcer came on and suspended all racing for the evening. The city of Gent has been plagued by a series of electrical blackouts due to a rare snowfall of 6cm of wet snow. This old arena is starting to leak in several places so for the safety of the riders the judges suspended the race and will continue today.


Results
Points race

1 Robert Slippens/Danny Stam (Ned) 11 pts
2 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel)/Andreas Beikirch (Ger) 10
3 Matthew Gilmore/Iljo Keisse (Bel) 8
4 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)/Matthé Pronk (Ned) 7
5 Bruno Risi/Kurt Betschart (Swi) 7
6 Steven Deneef/Steve Schets (Bel) 5
7 Robert Bartko (Ger)/Scott Mcgrory (Aus) 4
8 Christian Grasmann (Ger)/Marc Hester (Den) 4
9 Kenny De Ketele (Bel)/Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) 4
10 Marty Nothstein (USA)/Juan Llaneras (Spa) 2
11 Franco Marvulli (Swi)/Marco Villa (Ita) 2
12 Robert Hayles/Mark Cavendish (GBr) 1
13 Peter Schep (Ned)/Gerd Dörich (Ger) 1

Team elimination

1 Matthew Gilmore/Iljo Keisse (Bel) 15 pts
2 Robert Slippens/Danny Stam (Ned) 10
3 Robert Bartko (Ger)/Scott Mcgrory (Aus) 8
4 Bruno Risi/Kurt Betschart (Swi) 6
5 Marty Nothstein (USA)/Juan Llaneras (Spa) 4
6 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)/Matthé Pronk (Ned) 2
7 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel)/Andreas Beikirch (Ger)
8 Peter Schep (Ned)/Gerd Dörich (Ger)
9 Steven Deneef/Steve Schets (Bel)
10 Christian Grasmann (Ger)/Marc Hester (Den)
11 Kenny De Ketele (Bel)/Alexander Aeschbach (Swi)
12 Robert Hayles/Mark Cavendish (GBr)
13 Franco Marvulli (Swi)/Marco Villa (Ita)

1 lap time trial

1 Robert Slippens/Danny Stam (Ned) 15 pts
2 BartkoMcGrory 10
3 Matthew Gilmore/Iljo Keisse (Bel) 8
4 Marty Nothstein (USA)/Juan Llaneras (Spa) 6
5 Robert Hayles/Mark Cavendish (GBr) 4
6 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel)/Andreas Beikirch (Ger) 2
7 Christian Grasmann (Ger)/Marc Hester (Den)
8 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)/Matthé Pronk (Ned)
9 Bruno Risi/Kurt Betschart (Swi)
10 Steven Deneef/Steve Schets (Bel)
11 Kenny De Ketele (Bel)/Alexander Aeschbach (Swi)
12 Peter Schep (Ned)/Gerd Dörich (Ger)
13 Franco Marvulli (Swi)/Marco Villa (Ita)

Madison

1 Robert Slippens/Danny Stam (Ned) 15 pts
2 De Ketele Aeschbach 10

1 lap behind

3 Bruno Risi/Kurt Betschart (Swi) 8 pts
4 Matthew Gilmore/Iljo Keisse (Bel) 6
5 Robert Bartko (Ger)/Scott Mcgrory (Aus) 4

2 laps behind

6 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel)/Andreas Beikirch (Ger) 2 pts
7 Marty Nothstein (USA)/Juan Llaneras (Spa)
8 Peter Schep (Ned)/Gerd Dörich (Ger)

3 laps behind

9 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)/Matthé Pronk (Ned)
10 Christian Grasmann (Ger)/Marc Hester (Den)
11 Steven Deneef/Steve Schets (Bel)

4 laps behind

12 Robert Hayles/Mark Cavendish (GBr)
13 Franco Marvulli (Swi)/Marco Villa (Ita)

‘King sprint’

1 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel)/Andreas Beikirch (Ger) 15 pts
2 Bruno Risi/Kurt Betschart (Swi) 10
3 Matthew Gilmore/Iljo Keisse (Bel) 8
4 Steven Deneef/Steve Schets (Bel) 6
5 Robert Slippens/Danny Stam (Ned) 4
6 Robert Bartko (Ger)/Scott Mcgrory (Aus) 2
7 Kenny De Ketele (Bel)/Alexander Aeschbach (Swi)
8 Robert Hayles/Mark Cavendish (GBr)
9 Peter Schep (Ned)/Gerd Dörich (Ger)
10 Christian Grasmann (Ger)/Marc Hester (Den)
11 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)/Matthé Pronk (Ned)
12 Marty Nothstein (USA)/Juan Llaneras (Spa)
13 Franco Marvulli (Swi)/Marco Villa (Ita)

Derny 1

1 Kenny De Ketele (Bel) 5 pts
2 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) 4
3 Steve Schets (Bel) 3
4 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel) 2
5 Marty Nothstein (USA) 1
6 Peter Schep (Ned)

Elimination

1 Juan Llaneras (Spa) 15 pts
2 Andreas Beikirch (Ger) 10
3 Steven Deneef (Bel) 8
4 Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) 6
5 Marc Hester (Den) 4
6 Iljo Keisse (Bel) 2
7 Mark Cavendish (GBr)
8 Gerd Dörich (Ger)
9 Kurt Betschart (Swi)
10 Robert Slippens (Ned)
11 Matthé Pronk (Ned)
12 Scott Mcgrory (Aus)
13 Franco Marvulli (Swi)

Derny 2

1 Matthew Gilmore (Bel) 5 pts
2 Robert Bartko (Ger) 4
3 Bruno Risi (Swi) 3
4 Robert Slippens (Ned) 2
5 Franco Marvulli (Swi) 1
6 Mark Cavendish (GBr)

500 m time trial

1 Robert Hayles/Mark Cavendish (GBr) 15 pts
2 Robert Bartko (Ger)/Scott Mcgrory (Aus) 10
3 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel)/Andreas Beikirch (Ger) 8
4 Christian Grasmann (Ger)/Marc Hester (Den) 6
5 Matthew Gilmore/Iljo Keisse (Bel) 4
6 Marty Nothstein (USA)/Juan Llaneras (Spa) 2
7 Robert Slippens/Danny Stam (Ned)
8 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)/Matthé Pronk (Ned)
9 Peter Schep (Ned)/Gerd Dörich (Ger)
10 Kenny De Ketele (Bel)/Alexander Aeschbach (Swi)
11 Steven Deneef/Steve Schets (Bel)
12 Bruno Risi/Kurt Betschart (Swi)
13 Franco Marvulli (Swi)/Marco Villa (Ita)

Overall standings after night 4

1 Matthew Gilmore/Iljo Keisse (Bel) 246 pts

1 lap behind

2 Robert Bartko (Ger)/Scott Mcgrory (Aus) 244 pts
3 Robert Slippens/Danny Stam (Ned) 220
4 Bruno Risi/Kurt Betschart (Swi) 144

6 laps behind

5 Kenny De Ketele (Bel)/Alexander Aeschbach (Swi) 109 pts

8 laps behind

6 Franco Marvulli (Swi)/Marco Villa (Ita) 137 pts

11 laps behind

7 Marty Nothstein (USA)/Juan Llaneras (Spa) 90 pts

12 laps behind

8 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel)/Andreas Beikirch (Ger) 185 pts

13 laps behind

9 Steven Deneef/Steve Schets (Bel) 111 pts

14 laps behind

10 Peter Schep (Ned)/Gerd Dörich (Ger) 44 pts

16 laps behind

11 Wouter Van Mechelen (Bel)/Matthé Pronk (Ned) 93 pts

17 laps behind

12 Christian Grasmann (Ger)/Marc Hester (Den) 90 pts

20 laps behind

13 Robert Hayles/Mark Cavendish (GBr) 96 pts