Forest City Velodrome
London, Ontario

Six-Day Race - Day 2

January 28, 2006

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Photo © Rob Good

Another thrilling display of Madison racing entertained the crowd for the second night of the 6 day race. The officials were kept on their toes with a number of photo finishes in the battles for sprint wins and miss & out placings.

In the first session Team Delhi, Keith Thorarison and Mike Renneboog, again took the honours with a blistering time of 17.88 seconds in the team sprints, just under a full second faster than second place Team Brantford, Eric Robertson and Piers Davidge. Team Brantford turned the tables on Delhi and took the last sprint of the session to produce a tie in points for first place. Waterloo and Burlington both made valiant efforts to get away after the sprints and gain a lap on the field but were ultimately brought back into the fold. Dave Byer of the London team started the race despite having severe stomach problems last night. Dave continued to ride stronger as the night progressed and with part! ner Dave St James showed that London will still be a force to be dealt with as he gets back in form.

The second session miss and out was so close that on one occasion the judges decision had to be revised when the photo finish was reviewed. Delhi and Brantford tied for points in the event. The session ended with Delhi holding a slim 3 point lead over Brantford.

In the third session team London, Waterloo and Burlington attacked again and again and tried to get away and gain a lap but were brought back. The end result was that the points were the determining factor - the closely matched teams were unable to gain a lap on each other. The final sprint of the night is for double points and Davidge and Robertson really pounded the boards and came home winners taking the first place standing away from Delhi and beating them by one point - 47 to 46.

In the overall standings after 2 days three teams are tied with 18 points each for first place and Waterloo and London are right on their heels. Tomorrow, day three, racing starts at 2pm and it looks like another nail biter. Don't miss it.

Report courtesy of Rob Good