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Lehigh Velodrome
USA vs the World, Trexlertown, PA, June 3, 2006
World class racing returns to Lehigh
Saturday, June 3, marked the long anticipated and exciting return of world-class racing to the Lehigh Valley Velodrome. Valley Preferred, the title sponsor to the eleven-event Professional Racing Series, and Red Robin, the opening night host, joined to underwrite the event in support of bringing the world back to the Lehigh Valley!
With four world champions, ten world championship medalists, European Continental Pro squad "Team Sparkasse," and eleven different countries on hand, the racing was guaranteed to impress on opening day in front on 1500 race-hungry fans.
After two heats of men's Keirin Semi's, Ashley Kimmet started the evening finals off with a win in the women's One Mile Preme Race with a strong move over world medalist Kim Geist and Erica Allar on the last lap of the approximately four and-a-half lap race.
The men next stepped up to the Elimination with a 36-rider field, each lap the officials pulling one rider until down to the remaining three athletes. Team Sparkasse's Sebastian Loffler and Stefan Frey went to the wire with America's Jame Carney. Carney pulled a spectacular move in turn four going into one-to-go, splitting the Germans, and securing second wheel at bell lap. Carney then launched an impressive move over Loffler to take the win with the constantly charging Frey in third.
Jenny Reed, Olympian and Keirin world championship medalist, rode her heart out in the UCI 12km Points Race compiling 20 points to Ashley Kimmet's 10 and Argentina's Graciela Martinez's eight points. Reed, an absolute powerhouse of a rider more accustomed to the short-and-sweet, put her head down and drove the front throughout the 36-lap race, showing a side of her not seen in years as she went on the clearly outclass the international field.
After two heart-stopping men's 2km Scratch Race heats, the women stepped up after a short rest for the second of two UCI events: the Women's 8km Scratch Final. Coming hard over the top after two laps, Team Fuji's Erica Allar initiated the first move that set the race in motion for the remaining 22 laps. Repeated attacks wore the field down and with approximately ten laps to go, a small group broke away that would decide the race. Ashley Kimmet charged ahead to take the win over San Diego's Anna Webb and Erica Allar with the aftermath of a field rolling to the finish in small groups.
Arguably, the most exciting event of the night was the Men's 2km Final that resulted in one of the most thrilling finishes in T-town history. Two heats brought the 40-rider field to 24, creating a manageable short scratch field. The six-lap race is a distance that allows the international sprinters a chance to mix it up with the enduros, culminating in what looks like a 24 man keirin at two-to-go. Team Sparkasse kept the opening pace high, not allowing any attack more than a couple of meters of rope.
With the hard-charging field going into 500m to go, Toyota-United's Bobby Lea launched a massive attack at the exact moment the field paused for a split second. With Lea looking to have the race in hand with a commanding 75m lead at one-to-go, the Dutch duo of Teun Mulder, 2005 World Keirin Champion, and Tim Veldt, 2005 Team Sprint silver medalist, hit the nitrous and accelerated through field reminiscent of Marty Nothstein's former glory as the King of Trexlertown. Veldt made up ground on Lea at an astounding pace, eating up the former national champion out of turn four to take the win in front of a gasping crowd and an amazed field.
Bobby Lea held on for second and Team Fuji's junior phenom' Shane Kline edged out Sparkasse's Frey to take third.
The women's stepped up to their final event of the night, the always-exciting Elimination. A non-UCI event, the "miss and out" is ubiquitous for tight racing and riders looking for non-existing holes in an effort not to be last across the finish line each lap.
Jenny Reed would go on to take her second endurance event of the night, out sprinting Anna Webb and Erica Allar, with future international star Nina Santiago and Colleen Hayduk in fourth and fifth.
The second to last event on the program would prove an awaking of Australia's Pete Fitzpatrick. UCI sanctioned, the men's 15km Scratch Final was stacked with as good a field one can find outside of a world cup race. The blistering pace from the opening lap had riders gasping for a break throughout the heated first half of racing. With Sparkasse's Loffler and Frey repeatedly attacking the 50-plus km/h pace, cracks began to show in the group a little after halfway.
When the attacking dust settled, Fitzpatrick, Fuji's Jame Carney, and Stefan Loffler finally got away with about a kilometer to go. Carney charged ahead at bell lap, but Fitzpatrick came back on Carney with Loffler looking underneath. Out of four, Carney moved slightly above the sprinter's lane with Frey diving underneath. Quickly shutting the door, Carney and Frey banged bars and both almost went down just before the finish line. Though Frey crossed the line in second place, officials quickly relegated him to third after the altercation with Carney, therefore awarding the American second in the UCI event.
After an awards ceremony, the sprint men took to the track for the last time for the UCI Keirin Finals. World champions Teun Mulder and Roberto Chiappa, world medalists, Ryan Nelman, Tim Veldt, and Andy Lakatosh, met up with Canadian Eric Beausejor, Spike's Eric Selker, and Trinidad's Haseem Mclean for an impressive field of champion sprinters fighting it out for keirin supremacy.
With the motor pulling off with 600m to go, the mass of riders surged together with Veldt, Mulder, Andy Lakatosh, and Ryan Nelman in good position with Chiappa at the front. At bell lap, Veldt exploded up and over Chiappa with 2005 Keirin world champion, Mulder, in tow, followed by Nelman and Lakatosh. Nelman and Lakatosh bumped a bit in turn two, both riding high, with Nelman losing ground after contact. Veldt riding like a man possessed, continued piling on the coals through both three and four, coming home a half bike in front of Mulder and Chiappa, followed closely by Trinidad and Tobago's rising star, Haseem McLean and new US fast man, Eric Selker.
An incredible finish to an awesome night of racing! T-town is back with a vengeance! Do not miss Friday's UCI-sanctioned "thevelodrome.com Open de Nations." Men's Sprints, Women's keirin, Men's 1km and 10km Scratch Finals, 30km Madison, women's 5km UCI scratch, and women's Elimination are all on tap for an incredible evening of international competition.
The internationals will continue to race with new arrivals world champions Jan van Eiden and Stefan Steinweg, along with six-day star Christian Grasmann, and others joining the charged field of riders!
Results
Elite Men Keirin Semi-Finals Heat 1 1 Haseem Mclean 2 Teun Mulder 3 Ryan Nelman 4 Andy Lakatosh Elite Men Keirin Semi-Finals Heat 2 1 Tim Veldt 2 Eric Selker 3 Roberto Chiappa 4 Eric Beausejour Elite Women 1 Mile Preme Race 1 Ashley Kimmet 2 Kim Geist 3 Erica Allar 4 Anna Webb 5 May Brit Hartwell Elite Men Elimination 1 Jame Carney 2 Sebastian Frey 3 Stefan Loffler 4 Peter Fitzpatrick 5 David Clinger Elite Women 12km Points Race-Final UCI 1 Jennie Reed 2 Ashley Kimmet 3 Veronica Martinez 4 Anna Webb 5 Erica Allar Elite Men 2km Scratch Race-Heat 1 1 Roberto Chiappa 2 Bobby Lea 3 Sebastian Frey 4 Ryan Nelman Elite Men 2km Scratch Race-Heat 2 1 Tim Veldt 2 David Wiswell 3 Stefan Loffler 4 Trevor Matulys Elite Women 8km Scratch Race-Final 1 Ashley Kimmet 2 Anna Webb 3 Erica Allar 4 Veronica Martinez 5 Kim Geist Elite Men 2km Scratch Final 1 Tim Veldt 2 Bobby Lea 3 Shane Kline 4 Sebastian Frey 5 Sebastian Alexander Elite Women Elimination 1 Jennie Reed 2 Anna Webb 3 Erica Allar 4 Nina Santiago 5 Colleen Hayduk Elite Men 15km Scratch Final 1 Peter Fitzpatrick 2 Jame Carney 3 Stefan Loffler 4 Sebastian Alexander 5 David Wiswell Elite Men Keirin Finals 9-15 1 Sebastian Frey 2 Trevor Matulys 3 David Wiswell 4 Matt Diefenbach 5 Jackie Simes Elite Men Keirin Finals 1-6 1 Tim Veldt 2 Teun Mulder 3 Roberto Chiappa 4 Haseem Mclean 5 Eric Selker
