December 9, 2008 (London, ON) – The last Ontario Championship race for 2008 was held on Saturday night at London’s Forest City Velodrome. Five “AA” division teams came out to contest the Omnium format evening of racing. Teams were balanced mixing youth matched with experience.

The first four events were time trials and individual events to give each team a good sense of the skill levels within each team. Team Teal (Mike Nuttall and Rhys Bateman) scored two wins to go into the final 20-minute Madison in the lead on points. Also winning events in the early part of the Omnium were the Yellow Team of Emily McKenzie-Picot / Dave St. James and the Grey Team of Kyle Rupay / Dina Ridha. The points spread was very close and it would come down to which team could gain the advantage during the last race of the night. Madison racing demands the most skill, and in addition combines race strategy with consistent hand-slings (exchanges) to keep the pressure on the other teams.

Early in the “AA” Madison, Team Black, Brian Kelly / Daniel McKenzie-Picot attacked from the whistle to gain a very quick 1/2 lap advantage over the field – this early move would eventually come back to haunt the London riders. They were slowly reeled in by the other teams with no one taking more that a 30-metre lead until the youngest rider in the field 14-year-old Drew Welsh attacked over the top of the other teams during an exchange with partner Lorne Falkenstein. The 1/4 lap increased to 1/2 a lap, until 16-year-old Emily McKenzie-Picot strung out the field to begin the process of closing the gap on the leaders. From no where the team of Bateman / Nuttall started to move closer to the lead. This was short-lived as the team missed an exchange and came back to the field.

Picot attacked again and closed the gap to Welsh and the two teams seemed to have things their own way with two minutes left in the 20-minute affair. Rupay came from nowhere to again close the gap to the leaders only to fall a little short during the final sprint. On the last exchange, McKenzie-Picot made one last try to seal the win for the Yellow team only to be counter-attacked by Welsh and in the end the final sprint went to Welsh/Falkenstein. McKenzie-Picot/St James crossed the line 2nd and finished 3rd overall for bronze.

Elite Race
The Elite race was just as exciting with the winner of the event not being determined until the final sprint of the 45-minute Madison. Early in the competition Team White, Joe Veloce and Steve Meyer had a definite advantage going into the last race of the night…. only to see there dominance slip away with the leg-blowing speed of the first 15 minutes of the Madison.

Attack after attack had all the remaining teams suffering wishing for the end to come, laps were being taken with the eventual winners Team Green, Vlemmix/DeFranceschi, pulling back an early lap by track regular Mike Renneboog and 15-year-old, cadet Jason King who would make it to Silver in the final standings. It was a great night of racing by all competitors.

Racing continues on Saturday, December 13 at 7pm. The 6-hour FCV Track Enduro will test the will power of the 35 racers currently entered. Come out and see the madness and visit www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca.

Final Standings

“AA” Division

– Gold Medal – Team Blue – Welsh/Falkensrein
– Silver Medal – Team Teal – Nuttall/Bateman
– Bronze Medal – Team Yellow – McKenzie-Picot/St. James
– 4th Place – Team Black – Kelly/Daniel M-P
– 5th Place – Team Grey – Ridha/Rupay

“Elite” Division

– Gold Medal – Team Green – Vlemmix/DeFranceschi
– Silver Medal – Team Yellow – King/Renneboog
– Bronze Medal – Team Blue – Lundy/Carden
– 4th Place – Team Purple – Throop/Perlmutter
– 5th Place – Team Red – Aitcheson/rg
– 6th Place – Team White – Veloce/Meyer