Firday Night Breakaway Series Northern California Madison Championship San José CA Aug 28th 1998The Northern California Madison Championship features a full night of racing to decide the gold, silver and bronze. The evening starts out with a 60 lap Madison, followed by 1 rider from each team staying on the track to do a 12 lap Point a Lap. After the Point a Lap the riders who have been on the track from the begining finally get to take a break while the other rider from each team comes out to do a 10 lap Scratch. All riders return to the track for a Miss and Out followed by the final 80 laps of Madison racing. The overall winning team is decided by combining the laps and points earned in all of the events.
This year 9 teams started the event for the Nor Cal Championship for a total field of 18 riders.
During the opening portion of the first 60 laps of racing the Olympic Club team ( Nick Kelez and Larry Nolan) and the Powerbar team ( Basil Milsal and Alister Adams) kept trading 1st and 2nd positions, leaving the rest of the field to battle for the 3rd and 4th place points. With about 15 laps to go the MV team of Will Zegers and Jackson Stewart snuck off the front while the two front runners kept a close eye on each other. The MV team stayed off the front to take the last two sprints. The sprinter team of Chris Springer and Scott Card pick up points where ever they could to stay in the hunt for the District Championship.
After the opening 60 lap Madison the standings were. Kelez/Nolan 19 Pts Milsal/Adams 18 Pts Zegers/Stewart 15 Pts Springer/Card 14 Pts Selinger/Waltjen 4 Pts Lillard/Hibbard 4 Pts Albee/Todd 1 Pt Rodamaker/Pohl 0 -1 lap Tamel/Simmons 0 -1 lapIn the 12 lap Point a Lap Kelez of the Olymipc Club team rode at or off the front to take the victory and extend his teams lead in the standings. Jackson Stewart from the MV team took second place to move his team into a tie for 2nd place.
Standings after the 12 lap Point a Lap race. Kelez/Nolan 26 Pts Milsal/Adams 20 Pts Zegers/Stewart 20 Pts Springer/Card 14 Pts Lillard/Hibbard 7 Pts Selinger/Waltjen 4 Pts Albee/Todd 2 Pts Tamel/Simmons 0 -1 Rodamaker/Pohl 0 -2 lapsIn the 10 lap Scratch race it was Dory Selinger taking a very popular solo victory, picking up two primes along the way, Basil Milsal put his team back into sole pocession of 2nd place by taking 2nd
Standings after 10 lap Scratch Race Kelez/Nolan 27 Pts Milsal/Adams 25 Zegers/Stewart 22 Springer/Card 17 Selinger/Waltjen 11 Lillard/Hibbard 7 Todd/Albee 2 Tamel/Simmons 0 -1 lap Rodamaker/Pohl 0 -2 lapsSince both riders from each team are riding in the Miss and Out it gives each team a chance to score a bunch of points. Of course the riders who do best in the Miss and Out have the least recovery going into the final 80 laps of racing. It was the Olympic club team taking 1st and 3rd to extend their point lead but did they have anything left for the final Madison. Chris Springer crashed near the end of the Miss and Out which lead to his team withdrawing. Jackson Stewart moved his team back into 2nd place overall by taking 2nd in the Miss and Out
Standings after the Miss and Out Kelez/Nolan 37 Pts Zeigers Stewart 27 Milsal/Adams 25 Springer/Card 18 Selinger/Waltjen 11 Lillard/Hibbard 9 Albee/Todd 2 Tamel/Simmons 0 -1 lap Rodamaker/Pohl 0 -2 lapsDuring the final 80 laps of racing the front running teams put the pressure on to break the field apart. The team of Zegiers and Stewart got into early trouble and almost got lapped before fighting their way back to the field in the last few laps. In the end the Olympic club team proved to be to strong for the other teams and ended up taking a lap near the end of the race. Going into the final double point sprint the main question was who would be the bronze medal team with only 4 points seperating the Zegers/Stewart and Selinger/Waltjen teams.
Final Standings 1 Nick Kelez/Larry Nolan 70 Pts +1 lap 2 Basil Milsal/Alister Adams 56 Pts 3 Wil Zegers/Jackson Stewart 34 Pts 4 Dory Selinger/Lance Waltjen 28 Pts 5 James Lillard/James Hibbard 10 Pts 6 Matt Albee/Eric Todd 8 Pts 7 Matt Tamel/John Simmons 4 Pts -1 lap 8 Mark Rodamaker/Oliver Pohl 0 -3 laps Return to main results page