MIVA 41.4KM CRITERIUM 150630Only eleven starters on a hot, windy evening, with two of the starters showing for the first time this season and two more participating for the first time ever. The scheduled race was to have been a points criterium but we decided to make it a straight race with no sprints to give the newbies a chance to settle in.

Within a couple of laps, Angelina Landry​, who runs MIVA Wednesday evening group rides, was having difficulty accel -erating out of the corners and eased off to let the group lap her. Once the organiser had given her a heads up on the strategy to use, she got back in and was not dropped again.

The bunch stayed fast but quiet for half a dozen laps and then Nick Kupiak (Broad Street Cycles), Brodie Hay (Dr. Walker), Sean De Pol (MIVA) and Vinko Poldrugovic (VRC) established a good break that gained ten seconds in two laps. Then Brodie dropped back, leaving the trio to continue gaining time. He was in turn joined by Tony Winter, one of the founders of MIVA and they stayed in no man's land for the next couple of laps until Aaron |Milan (CVCC) and then the resat of the group caught them.

The break continued to gain five seconds a lap on the bunch and seemed all set to lap the field until about fifteen laps to go when it became obvious that not all were pulling through and their pace dropped significantly. The bunch now started to catch them so Sean De Pol tried a solo effort and for the next six laps he stayed in the clear while Kupiak and Poldrugovic were finally absorbed by the group. Eventually, with just eight laps left, he too was reeled in.

Then De Pol jumped yet again, taking Brodie Hay with him and, with two laps to go, they were joined by Kupiak and Poldrugovic. This quartette stayed away but on the final lap, having dropped De Pol, the remaining three started dicing for lead-out position and Brodie and Vinko almost came to a halt, giving Nick the chance to take a well-earned win, with Brodie in second and Vinko rounding out the top three. Sean came in fourth at twelve seconds and Tony won the sprint for fifth place.

NVA SPRINTS PRESENTED BY MICHAEL GILL WEALTH MANAGEMENT 15 06 18Due no doubt to Thursday's forty kilometre time trial and to the big events on the weekend, the only regular to show at the Maxey Road sprints was Kim Sutherland. His presence gave him the twelve points for winning and so Kim consolidated his lead in the series over Patrick Burnham. Due to Canada Day, there will be no sprints next Friday but the final, championship event will be held on Friday, July 10th. With registration at 5.30pm and first heat at 6pm. His Fall the organisers will evaluate different times and days for next season's series. Thanks to all who participated in the 2015 series and thanks to Mike Gill for sponsoring them.

MIVA 41.4KM CRITERIUM 150623Tonight's event was a straight race, with no primes offered. Right from the start, the action was fast and furious, with Kim Sutherland, Carey Mark and Mike McCarney struggling to remain in contact.. By lap 4, they were sitting in more comfortably but Patrick Burnham had started to drift off the back. In the ninth lap, Peterr Mogg and Janna Gillick established a small break and managed to hold it for the next couple of laps but they were soon joined by Nick Kupiak, Mark Grant and Iain Hay and, a lap later, by the rest of the bunch. Surprisingly, the group was still intact, with stragglers managing to stay on the back. While, at the front end, several attempts were made to escape by Janna Gillick, Brodie Hay, Peter Mogg , Sean De Pol and a few others but all to no avail. Since there were no primes to set up for, the mood seemed to be to wait for the finish The fast tempo was maintained for the final ten laps, with a lone dash off the front by Iain Hay on lap thirty-one and a valiant effort at the start of the final lap by Mike Sevcov. But in the end it came down to positioning at the last corner for the sprint to the chequered flag. a group of eight gapped the rest of the field and at the line, it was Nick Kupiak winning comfortably from Iain and Brodie Hay, with John Lam in fourth, Mark Grant in fifth and Shepherd Stewart just edging top woman Janna Gillick to round out the top six. Eighth in the group was Aaron Milan. The second bunch, a second back, was led in by Mike Sevcov with second woman, Casey Mark just behind. As usual, thanks to all the volunteers for making these races possible.

Click  onFILE0360 for video of finish.

NVA SPRINT SERIES STANDINGSMike Gill MIVA  48 Patrick Burnham MIVA  34 Kim Sutherland MIVA  18 John Lam MIVA 12 Phil Birrer MIVA 12

Justin Mark, BCBR 12 Vinko Poldruvac Victoria RC  12 Jim Brown MIVA 9

Carey Mark, Steed Cycles, 7

NVA SPRINTS 15 06 19Presented by Michael Gill Wealth Management

This week's races were down on attendance but the participants gave a great demonstration of the importance of tactics in a match sprint. In the ride off for top honours, Mike Gill was matched against Patrick Burnham, who has some track experience from his visits to the Juan de Fuca velodrome in Victoria.

Mike drew pole position for the first of the final heats and led out well before the 200 metre mark but Patrick came round him as the sprint proper commenced. Mike tried to match Patrick's jump but failed to move in behind him and fought the wind right to the line, several lengths behind.

In the second heat, it was Mike's turn to take the initial lead and about 25o metres from the finish, Patrick came around him and accelerated fiercely. Gill, tried to get on Patrick's wheel this time but he left too large a gap and didn't get the full advantage of drafting his opponent so again had a tough ride to the finish, trailing Burnham by a length and a half.

Although this win gave the overall victory to Patrick, the third heat was held to see if Mike could finally outfox the faster rider. They to spun for pole position which was given to Mike. This time, he managed to get Patrick to lead out and again tried to get on his adversary's wheel. But, in a repetition of the first sprint, was unable to hold the pace. After the competition, the organiser and participants had a brief discussion on tactics and gearing and were invited to look up match sprinting and team pursuits (for drafting).

All you avid road racers are invited to come out every Friday for 6pm and have some REAL fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-ghrByKIO8 (an excellent commentary by Phil Liggett)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoqSTk5TzNw