Western Speedway

[Roland]

Another fun night at the track. And this time the sun came out! 16 racers, which is pretty good considering only 1 VAC / Aviawest rider (the rest were recovering from Race the Ridge)

A few new faces and a few regulars. A great selection of coaches too, from various clubs. It's turning into more than just a C race, it's become a Victoria Road Racing community event. There were even some Olympians and ex-pros out to watch and help out.

We ran the same races as last week, 2 long races followed by sprints and kierens.

Good times were had by all, and most importantly, everybody kept it rubber side down.

Results Photos

[Lister Farrar]

Brenna rocked tonight. She won one of the 15 lappers, against a predominately adult field, including more adult men than previous weeks. + a 1 lap sprint. Two sprint wins.

Race 1, she got caught between the break and the bunch on her own, then got caught and dropped by Steve Lund and another guy, but got back on the main group and they all came together again. She finished in the back of the front bunch.

Next race, she jumped after Ben Stordy from avia west, realized he was too strong, looked back (as I suggested after the first race where she got passed by Steve L and co before realizing they were coming), jumped onto the group and helped them catch Ben. Then kept hidden, and came around the outside of a bunch of about 7-8 to win.
http://photos.rabien.com/Road-Cycling/2 ... 89_RGpQjzf
Also won the women’s 1 lapper http://photos.rabien.com/Road-Cycling/2 ... 75_HLbzZLw, and second in the women’s Kierin.

Big thanks to Roland who built a new lap counter, hauled all the gear out there in his truck, put it all up, and did the registration, photo-finish, and then took it all down, unloaded it and put it away at home. Then he compiled and posted the results and photos! (Note to file: we need to follow Roland home just to help unload. For non-racers, you could have a pretty nice evening just riding out to watch, write down a few numbers, and spending 5 minutes loading and unloading. I think we need a beer meeting after though. Too many good stories for the forum. )

Also props to TS'rs Gavin, Jenn, Mike L who rode, + Glen on results. Gavin and Mike made great kierin motorcycles. They get baseball cards for the spokes next week.

One more story. One girl about 12, who has been coming every week, usually slips off the back and spins serenely around with one of the coaches. Mouth closed. No apparent effort. Pic here http://photos.rabien.com/Road-Cycling/2 ... qZLm-X3-LB see in 3x view), looks good on a bike, but a little too composed for racing; sorta like Mike Lawless)

So after one race I joked to her that once she gets rolling enough to breath hard, everyone else is going to be in trouble. She looked kinda blank. (hmm, must be my middle-aged humour). So I asked, have you tried a bigger gear? "Ummm. No." Her sister says: "I don't think she knows which lever to use". So we pointed out the one she needs to make it 'harder'.

She came to the line for the one lapper, and we got her bike in the big ring, + an easy-ish gear for the start, pointed and said "push that lever every time you think you can go harder".

Here's the result:
In black, on yellow bike, just stomping it Petacchi-like, duking it out for second in the kids 1 lapper.
http://photos.rabien.com/Road-Cycling/2 ... CmPG-X3-LB

THAT, was fun.