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June 27/04 3:24 am - NAS-TRACK Season Opener


Posted by Editoress on 06/27/04
 

Koesel, Good Win NAS-TRACK Season Opener

Rochester Hills, MI - 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.


Final Standings
1st- Team Neon - Dave Koesel, Livonia and Rob Good, Toronto - 86 pts.
2nd - Team White - Rob Akers, Garden City and Nick Laughton, Rochester Hills, 70 pts.
3rd - Team Green - Ronnie Sink, Rochester and Paul Jaqua, Georgia, 63 pts.
4th - Team Red - Terry Palmer, Macomb Twp. And Andre Champoux, Ypsilanti, 62 pts.
5th - Team Blue - Pio Apostoli, Toledo and Jim Houston, Lake Orion, 61 pts.
6th - Team Pink - Tony Bruley, Rochester Hills and Ray Dybowski, Waterford, 55j pts.
7th - Team Tan - Luis Bernhardt, Vancouver and Dave Teal, Toledo, 40 pts.
8th - Team Black - Cullen Watkins, Royal Oak and Jon/Chris Hughes, Rochester Hills, 24pts.

1 MILE TEAM PURSUIT
1st - Team Neon Dave Koesel/Rob Good, 54.87
2nd - Team Green Ronnie Sink/Paul Jaqua, 57.77
3rd - Team Red Terry Palmer/Andre Champoux, 57.88
4th - Team White Rob Akers/Nick Laughton, 58.36
5th - Team Blue Pio Apostoli/Jim Houston, 59.64
6th - Team Tan Luis Bernhardt /Dave Teal, 60.30
7th - Team Black Cullen Watkins/Jon Hughes, 60.82
8th - Team Pink Tony Bruley /Ray Dybowski, 103.48

1 MILE SPRINT - SPRINT 1
1st - Team White Nick Laughton
2nd -Team Neon Rob Good
3rd - Team Pink Ray Dybowski
4th - Team Blue Jim Houston
5th - Team Green Paul Jaqua
6th - Team Red Andre Champoux
7th- Team Black Jon Hughes
8th - Team Tan Dave Teal

1 MILE SPRINT - SPRINT 2
1st - Team Neon Dave Koesel
2nd - Team Green Ronnie Sink
3rd - Team Red Terry Palmer
4th - Team White Rob Akers
5th - Team Blue Pio Apostoli
6th - Team Tan Luis Bernhardt
7th - Team Black Cullen Watkins
8th - Team Pink Tony Bruley

MISS & OUT
1st - Team Neon Dave Koesel
2nd - Team Green Ronnie Sink
3rd - Team Blue Pio Apostoli
4th - Team Red Andre Champoux
5th - Team Pink Ray Dybowksi
6th - Team Black Jon Hughes
7th - Team Pink Tony Bruley
8th - Team Green Paul Jaqua

50 LAP MADISON
1st - Team White
2nd - Team Neon
3rd - Team Green
4th - Team Blue
5th - Team Red
6th - Team Pink
7th - Team Black
8th - Team Tan

100 LAP Madison

1st Sprint - 50 laps
1st - Team Neon
2nd - Team White
3rd - Team Red
4th - Team Blue
5th - Team Pink
6th - Team Green
7th - Team Tan
8th - Team Black

Final Sprint
1st - Team Neon
2nd - Team White
3rd - Team Blue
4th - Team Red
5th - Team Tan
6th - Team Green
7th - Team Pink

 

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