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Bellville velodrome Three Day International
Cycling fans were treated to some exciting and breathtaking racing at the Bellville velodrome as the three Day International got underway last night. With teams from Holland, Germany, Belgium, England and Switzerland competing against the local South African stars, racing was highly entertaining and very competitive.
The sprint series produced its normal share of excitement with young SA National champion Dean Edwards outsprinting the rest to take the honours. He will be a marked man now!
The keiren and derny events were awesome and had the South African fans on the edge of their seats as they watched the five dernies whizz around the track with their riders in tow. The exciting finishes with these events had the crowd buzzing with excitement. For the first time ever in South Africa, the Stayers event took place. Martin Hartmann and his Dutch partner had the crowd watching in disbelief as they cranked their huge 127 inch gears on their special bicycles behind the 2 derny machines. The riders zoomed around the track, consistently clocking speeds in excess of 80km/h.
The night was not without its fair share of spills though. The crowd witnessed some hair raising moments in the derny events and with lots of jostling for position, there was an unfortunate accident where both the derny and the rider came down in one of the heats. There was another spill in the keiren event where wheels touched and two South African riders, Ricardo Heneke and Morne Blignaut came down.
The night's proceedings were rounded off with a 100 lap Madison where the winners of the Grenoble Six day, the Swiss pairing of Alexander Aeschbach and Franco Marvulli gained a lap and won easily, despite one of them falling toward the end of the race. Crowd favourites Robert Hunter and JP Van Zyl had a very subdued evening after jetting in minutes before the event started after completing the Grenoble Six Day. They will come into their own this evening and show the internationals what they are capable of.
So over the next few nights, more exciting racing is on the cards. There is even a surprise crowd participation event which gets the spectators involved and creates an electric atmosphere in the stadium. Don't miss it! be there.