Category: B

Friday night track racing was the usual fare for the B's, but the A's were riding the 2002 NCNCA Madison championships. this was done as a mini six-day event which made for interesting watching for those of us new to the scoring of a six-day event. More about that soon.

The first race for the B's (also containing those A's who weren't riding tha Madison, making for a very competitive group) was a 10 lap scratch race. I didn't feature in the sprint.

The Madison riders then had a 40-lap Madison, with sprints every 10 laps. I initialy thought that this was a warm-up event for the big race at the end of the night, but this was not the case. Six day races are separated into various events, but scored on a cumulative basis with laps taking precedence. That is, the points awarded in each event are added to give the final standing, and any laps gained are also counted. So, if a pair gains a lap in the first event, they go into subsequent events still up a lap and other teams therfore have to gain a lap to catch back up. Thus every point earned is crucial.

The USPS Masters pairing of Larry Nolan and Glen Winkle swept the board in the first Madison and then to test fitness, one rider of each pair immediately rode a subsequent 10-lap scratch race. Larry Nolan was a marked man, but won anyway, gaining more points which were awarded for the win. The relief riders then rode a point-a-lap, which, perhaps surprisingly, wasn't a USPS affair with John Kelly riding off the front but failing to gain a lap.

After a long wait, we were up again, this time for a 15 lap points race with sprints every 3 laps, which made it rather frantic. I hung in there OK. The Madison riders then were all up for a de'il with winkle 2nd and Nolan 4th. We then had a win-and-out and though I was lined up in a reasonable position, when the A riders went, I had no reply...

There was a short break and then we were up again, this time for a miss-and-out. I got myself into second fairly comfortably, and then Sergei Morozov came under the leader and me and started to take off. I latched onto his wheel, and rode to defend my position. It was only after a couple of laps that we realised that we had a break and started to work together. By this time the bunch decided to chase and we were brought back. I though I had 4th sown up but was sleeping and was eliminated just on the line by the rider behind me whom I had initially thought had sat up. I won't do that again, but I did get 5th.

Finally there was the last, long, Madison where USPS and the Morgan Stanley boys managed to gain a lap. I think that Larry and Glen won all but one of the sprints in this race, making then extremely impressive champions. Their tactics were first class. With 2 laps to a sprint, Larry would attack getting enough clear so he could exchange with Glen with less than a lap to go, and Glen's fresher legs would make sure of the points. They did this again and again and it was extremely interesting to watch. The only time this didn't work was the final sprint where the other riders were too close to allow and exchange. However, they still won the final sprint... wow!

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