June 29, 2004 – With their minds set on victory, the team of Dave Koesel
and Rob Good let their legs do the work to win the first night of
competition in the 2004 season of the NAS-TRACK Madison Racing League.

As Team Neon, Koesel of Livonia and Good of Toronto, began the night by
posting the best time and a new track record – 54.87 – in evening’s opener,
the mile pursuit. They placed in the top two in nearly every race and
quashed formidable challenges from the second place Team White of Rob Akers
of Garden City and Nick Laughton of Rochester Hills and third place Team
Green of Paul Jaqua of Savannah Georgia and Ronnie Sink of Rochester. Also
in the points were Team Red – Terry Palmer of Macomb Township and Andre
Champoux of Ypsilanti.

The race action took place Friday evening, June 25th at the Velodrome at
Bloomer Park in Rochester Hills where fans filled the tiered hillside as
well as the infield of the 1/8th of a mile oval. “It is very gratifying to
see so many people for our first race of the season,” said Dale Hughes,
Chairman of NAS-TRACK. “Ours is a unique American sport and you see guys
push themselves to their limits – both in speed and control.”

More than eight two-man teams started the race but only seven finished.
Racers earn points in five separate events, but the showcase of the evening
is the Madison, which involves teammates exchanging places with their
partners, tag team style, throughout the race. They reach speeds up to 42
miles an hour on the oval, which is banked 44 degrees in the turns. Two
Madisons, one of 50 laps, the other 100 laps, were held and it was in the
final sprint for points of both those events that Team Neon faced its
greatest challenge. In the final sprint of the first Madison, Team White’s
Laughton surprised everyone by going up and over the field and nipping
Koesel at the line. Going into the last sprint of the 100 lap Madison, with
double points at stake, Team White was in a position to beat Team Neon but
almost tangled with Team Blue so both botched their pick ups with two to
go. With Team White taking a double pull Team Neon easily won the last
sprint and the bike race.

“We wanted to set a new record in the pursuit,” said Koesel, pleased to
have kept the momentum going all night. “I don’t know how exciting it is to
watch, but it is really exciting to race.”

The points, however, don’t tell the entire story of the night’s racing.
Placing sixth, but the team that worked over the field by setting a
blistering pace at front of the pack was Team Pink of Tony Bruley,
Rochester Hills and Ray Dybowski of Waterford. Constantly attacking, Team
Pink blew apart the bike race with an unrelenting determination. For most
of the race, they started and sustained the jams but couldn’t get into the
points at the finish line.

The points do tell the story on how competitive the field was with Team
Green’s Ronnie Sink and Paul Jagua, Team Red’s Terry Palmer and Andre
Champoux and Team Blue’s Pio Apostoli and Jim Houston all separated by only
a single point each.

Racing continues at 7 p.m, every Friday in July at the Velodrome. The race
action will be broadcast on an 8-day delay on PBS-DPTV Ch56 at 11pm
Saturdays, the first sports broadcast for the public TV station.