January 08, 2012 (London, ON) – The infield at the Forest City Velodrome was full of racers last night with a large contingent of women to show who has early season form leading into the 2012 road season.
Twelve women lined up for their first endurance scratch race of the night. A quick pace had the pack on the edge of their saddles for the entire 40 lap event. The lead changed hands frequently and with six to go, Sara Rasmussen attacked and gapped the field by 15m. However in the final lap, Rasmussen was caught by a hard charging pack that had the eventual winner Sara Byers, with Stephanie Bester and Kirsten Worley just pip Rasmussen at the line. This was a very entertaining opening event on the night.
The Invita-FCV Juniors had a solid night of racing, winning the Elite Madison (Will Simonds & Eric MacDonald), Miss and Out (Simonds), Endurance Scratch Race (Adrian George). Twelve youth racers battled all night with Ian Currie winning 3 events and new comer Farleigh Creswicke finishing a very close second in 2 events on the night.
In the main event: the Thunder Pro Sprint Series was front and center as the largest crowd of the season filled the stands to see “The Sprinter Boys” duke it out on a special series of sprint races. 19 sprinters were entered in the single knockout event, win you move on…. Lose you better get ready for your next endurance race.
The first round saw all the usual suspects advanced easily except for one of our American friends who came to the FCV from Bloomer Park in Rochester Hills Michigan. In the 4th heat of the night Martin Veccio (Detroit) was the heavy favourite against new comer Quinn Hanem (Waterloo). In this heat race, Veccio attacked with over 3 laps from the end. This was his undoing, as Hanem, having just completed the FCV Christmas Camp did not get dropped and managed to spin over the fading Veccio with 15m to go….. margin of victory was .013 seconds (a blink of an eye).
The 9 rider semi-final had the athletes racing 3 up for the first time in a long time. Heads were on a pivot as the riders tried to keep an eye on their opponents, all the while calculating when the time to go for the line…..
Semi #1 had Daniel Mckenzie-Picot (coachchris.ca) and Eric MacDonald (Invita-FCV) go head to head. In the final push to the line both riders finished under a blanket with the final lap times under 8.5 seconds for both riders….. Daniel M-P won by ? a wheel with the hard charging MacDonald just coming up a little short.
Semi #2 Chris Singleton, Justin Morrow had another close sprint with Singleton moving on to the Final, winning by 2 bike lengths.
Semi#3 FCV veteran racer Mike Renneboog out foxed the 2 speedy Juniors, George & Simonds to the line. Renneboog took control of the sprint and would not let his younger opponents get to the front. In the end Adrian George battled to the line, however, came up just a little short.
This made for Junior vs Elite vs Master Final for the sprint honours for the night. Singleton took control right from the whistle and would not let McKenzie-Picot near the front. As the laps ticked by, the speeds went higher and higher. Renneboog was the first to drop off the back, with 2 laps to go Mckenzie-Picot tried to attack over Singleton. This plan almost worked however, Singleton would not give up the bottom. Both Sprinters were elbow to elbow right to the line with Chris Singleton taking the hard earned Victory by a wheel over the Junior Daniel Mckenzie-Picot.
Racing continues Saturday January 21st with the FCV Winter Nationals. Youth racing begins at 4pm (timed events) the mass start races begin at 7 pm for all categories.
For more information on Track Cycling for all…. www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca
Complete Race results HERE.