On May 9th 2009 Kazane and No Brakes teamed up to host ‘The Keirin’ at Dick Lane Velodrome.
We’d been in eager anticipation, here at the shop, for months of how our first title sponsorship of a pro race series event at the track would go. As the months, weeks and days leading up to the event passed by and all of Jeff’s , Pete’s, Melissa’s and the rest of the East Point Velodrome Association’s hard work began to come into place. Still we wondered… Will it rain? Which racers will show? Will the people come?
Well it didn’t rain, the racers brought the pain and the largest crowd we’ve seen yet went insane.
Pictured above is David Espinoza, the Keirin Champion of the night. He was up against a brutal array of adversaries but deftly sprinted to the top. Hailing all the way from Breinigsville, PA, this collegiate crusher dominated the Keirin heats and even set a new Dick Lane Flying 200m TT record: a blazing 11.22 seconds!
The day began with the Men’s B Tifosi Optics 10 Lap Scratch. Pictured above is our bud Josh Frank looking mean with the Lemmy chops and Cannondale track! This race was a personal best for me, as I narrowly earned my first ever Festival race first place! The ensuing Unknown Distance, 40 Lap Points Race and Miss & Out races left Ryan Pumpian of Stren-Flex Pro Cycling and & Darren Comer of The Grange (both pictured in the foreground below) taking first and second in the Omnium and Jason Jones of Team APB (pictured above, above Josh) breaking the tie he and I had for 3rd overall in the Miss & Out!
Next up was the Vanderkitten Women’s 10 Lap Scratch.
Dick Lane Local Leigh Hopkins, of Vanderkitten Racing, is shown here poised to pounce in the scratch but Rebecca Larson of Jittery Joes Pro Cycling (pictured below) took first in this race and 2nd overall.
Colleen Hayduck, hailing from Kutztown, PA and racing for Team Verducci took the first place spot overall in the Women’s Omnium and Leigh Hopkins took third.
The Men’s A pro races were as fierce as ever…
Out of town challengers as well as the local familiar foes went head to head in a 15 Lap Snowball, an Unknown Distance and a 60 Lap Points Race all featured by Twain’s Billiards and Tap. Ultimately, it was Emile Abraham hailing from Trinidad and Tobago and racing for Team Priority Health taking 1st, Daniel ‘Weatherman’ Holt of Team Type 1 racing far away from his home in the United Arab Emirates in 2nd and David Worth of Knoxville and no stranger to Dick Lane racing for Nashville Cyclist earned third overall in the pro omnium.
The entire day of racing was pure edge of the seat nail biting gut wrenching racing but the Keirin… It took the cake. Paired with Jeff’s impeccable DJ skills (the Rocky theme!!) and Pete’s white motopacer suit, action like the brutal clash between Lanell ‘The Rock’ Rockmore and Steve ‘Hitman’ Hill was only tip of the iceberg.
The day also included the Bicycle Little League Scratch, Miss & Out and Points race. Those kids were cranking! I took the day off taking pictures for racing, so I don’t have any shots of the little guys racing.
Other write ups on the event can be found on Chris Kelly’s Blog and the Keirin Culture Blog. There are still a handful of the limited T’s made for the race available here. And, don’t forget to check out videos of the racing on the DLV media page.
Below is the breakdown of the top three podium spots in each division.
Full results for the day can be found here.
| Keirin Results :
1 David Espinoza 2 Lanell Rockmore 3 Emile Abraham |
Men’s A Omnium Results :
1 Emile Abraham 44pts 2 Daniel Holt 36pts 3 David Worth 22pts |
| Women’s Omnium Results: 1 Colleen Hayduk 20pts 2 Rebecca Larson 16pts 3 Leigh Hopkins 7pt |
Men’s B Omnium Results:
1 Ryan Pumpian 16pts 2 Darren Comer 12pts 3 Jason Jones 7pts |
Thank you to everyone who made The Kazane | No Brakes Presents ‘The Keirin’ such a success! Especially Melissa for custom sewing the helmet covers and all of the out of town racers who traveled from near and very far to compete!
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Photos Courtesy of:
More photos from this event and more can be found at the new Dick Lane Flickr Pool.
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