February 2/09 11:15 am - Forest City Velodrome

Posted by Editoress on 02/2/09
 

Forest City Velodrome - Winter 'Nationals' January 31st, February 1st at London ON
Courtesy Rob Good, FCV

The 3rd Annual FCV Winter 'Nationals' wrapped up on Saturday night capping an extraordinary weekend of track racing at the Forest City Velodrome in London Ontario.

Track racers came from across Canada and the Northern US for this mid winter test of fitness. The 2 Elite Races (Points and Scratch Races) were the feature events on the program. Each night there was a Sprint Tournament plus a 5 event Omnium for all other categories.

6 Velodromes sent riders to compete in the 2 days of racing; from the United States - Kissena, Trexlertown and Bloomer Park. The Canadian tracks were Burnaby, Bromont Velodromes and of course the FCV.

The racing got off to a shaky start on Friday night when 2 riders hit the deck and were treated and released from hospital. With the bad news out of the way, the racers picked up their game and the fast tight racing returned for the qualifying heats of the Points race. Team Jet Fuel dominated the opening qualifier that had all 3 riders advance easily into the 138 lap feature. In the second qualifier, Team Quebec moved their best through to the final. The only female to advance through to the final was London's Lisa Perlmutter coming from the last chance race.

In the Points race final, 4 riders dominated the 138 lap torture test. Jean-Micheal Lachance and David Boily, from Team Quebec, Steve Meyer (London) and Daniele DeFranchesci (Windsor) battled for points all night and put the rest of the field in a world of hurt. The points were very evenly distributed with David Boily coming out the winner after 7 sprints with a single point victory over DeFranchesci and 4 points ahead of 3rd place finisher Steve Meyer.

In the invitational sprint tournament, Joe Veloce (Fonthill) outlasted Allan Leparskas (London) for the Gold. The Bronze went to Team Quebec's Stephane Cossette. Other notable finishes in the other categories included: 14 year old Cadet Daniel McKenzie-Picot (London) stopping the clock in the 500m TT in a time of 37.43. Also in the 500m TT, Scott Mulder (Cycling BC) clocked in a very impressive 36.29, followed by Team Ontario's 15 year old Jason King (36.78).

On Saturday night the heavy hitters came back to the FCV to play, a little tired... but fast. In the afternoon during the 3k Time Trials, several outstanding performances were turned in. Junior woman, Krista Ruby (2:49.77), Cadet Kyle Rupay (2:41.62), Master Tomas Wood from T-Town (3:54.26), and Daniele DeFranchesci (3:39.61).

A 24 rider sprint tournament was the first event on the card for the evening's portion of the program. London's Allan Leparskas wanted revenge for his silver medal on Friday night and set a blistering time of 7.907 seconds (62.83kph) around the 138m Velodrome. Earlier in the week during the CCA talent Camp, Leparskas went 11.62 on a flying 200m..... very impressive.
In the semi-finals Adum Thuss (Stratford) upset Leparskas to advance to the Gold medal final against eventual winner Stephane Cossette (Team Quebec). Leparskas took Bronze with a very spirited race against newcomer Mike Nuttall also from London.

The winner of the Omnium competition for each category, Scott Mulder - Junior Men. Kyle Rupay - Cadet, Laurie-Ann Dupont Renauld - Elite Women, Brian Kelly (London) - Matser 2 Men, Thomas Wood (T-Town) Master Men, Colleen Gulick (T-Town) - Junior Women.

Saturday night's feature race was a 138 lap endurance test for all the Elite racers. With average speeds above 46 kph it was a battle of the fittest. Regular track supporter from New Jersey, Joe Brennan, put up $200 in preems for the Elite race. Many attacks went off the front early in the event, with riders trying to earn the $50.00 prize for lapping the field. Nothing stuck as all the racers were fresh and weren't going to give the cash away that easily.

The most dangerous attack happened at the half way point in the race, when Junior Ryan Aitcheson went off the front and gained 3/4 of a lap. He was 20m behind the group with the race fans cheering him on... Aitcheson blew when Steve Meyer and David Boily teamed up to reel the Junior back into the main pack.

The race started with 14 riders, but by the time Aitcheson was pulled back on only 8 riders were on the lead lap. The $100 Preem at lap 100 was the turning point in the event, as David Boily went with 3 to go and very quickly won the 1st place prize and did not look back. Within 6 laps, he with the aid of a strong team sealed the victory by lapping the pack and being able to monitor and control the last 30 laps.

In the closing stages, Team Jet Fuel, set up a nice train to control the speed in the last 10 laps not letting anyone mount an attack. DeFranchesci and Aitcheson were able to finish 2nd and 3rd. Jean-Michel Lachance and the other Junior in the race Jacob Schwingboth (Cycling BC) rounded out the top 5.

A very entertaining event over 2 days. The FCV would like to thank all the Volunteers who made the race go very smoothly (as usual).

If you are a Cadet (13 - 16 years old) or Junior (16 - 17 years old) girls and boys, the FCV will be holding an Introductory Camp for New Riders to the Velodrome on Saturday afternoon February 21st, 2:30pm - 5pm. Register at info@ForestCityVeldrome.ca

Day 1 Results