Track Cycling: Velodrome Racing and Training Area - Fun races, flashy races.

We are having a big fun party/ night of races this Thursday. It was supposed to include a keirin, but that has fallen through. I am in a state that my brain isn't working right now. So what do you guys thinks are some races that are lots of fun to run, and good for spectators. Right now we have chariots and team sprints planned. They don't have to be UCI events or anything. This party is pretty open to whatever, so a fun kind of silly event would fit in perfect.

Handicaps are popular here in Australia and great to watch if the handicapper sets the marks well and all the riders hit the finish around the same time.

Madison's are always exciting to watch but require riders to be confortable with hand slings and riders all over the place at different speeds.

Eliminations are also fun and run pretty quickly. A few neutral laps then the rear rider is eliminated on each lap till only two riders remain and sprint it out to the finish.

Miss-and-out (eliminations) is a great spectator race. We do it to three people left. Neutralize the race for a lap and then make it a 3-up match sprint for the finish.

The scratch race can be fun if done right. The secret is to award money on each lap. We had the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge a couple weeks ago, and the scratch race featured $2 for the first across the line each lap and $1 for the second. It basically ensured that the race was full bore for the full 15 miles.

Match Sprint is a great spectator event as well. Two or three riders, three laps, first one across the line wins. Run it as a ladder or as a round robin.

There's the snowball race. A type of points race where each subsequent lap is worth one more extra point to the winner. First lap is 1 point, second is 2points, third is 3... Only the winner of each lap gets the points. Makes for some interesting race tactics and is easy enough for the spectators to follow. Team Sprints with two teams on the track are always fun to watch as well.

"Marrymoor Crawl" is a local favorite.

Race starts off behind the start/finish line.
One lap sprint.
Once started racers can not grab the rail, put a foot down, go backwards, or cross the start/finish line until the whistle/gun goes off.
This means you have a bunch of racers doing track stands or very slowly riding towards the start/finish line.
Adds up to a quick crowd favorite race.

Do some searches on YouTube or Vimeo and you'll find videos.

We have been doing Crawls quite a bit as a fun fourth race for the night for whoever wants to do it. But I have been crediting Apenrose. I will have to let the world know. Right now it is looking like the keirin may be back on. But if not we are leaning miss and out.

Now closed Boulder indoor would do "Madison Pursuits" which were always a crowd favorite. Really fun to do as well.
It is basically what you'd think. Two teams pursuing each other to the "death" -but only the "on" racer counts.

That's pretty awesome sounding.

Someone mentioned miss and out and neutralizing. When we do miss and outs at Giordana it's never actually neutralized. The race is usually blown up towards the end and there's 2 and 1 or something when there's 3 left. Everyone just keeps going and a couple laps later they ring the bell and someone wins a lap later. The ending usually isn't much of a race. Is it actually supposed to be a legitimate neutralization?

Cookie/cash/beer/merch primes in scratch races actually have the ability to make the races exciting for the actual racers, and makes the racing animated enough for crowds to enjoy as well.

Madison Kilos!
Totally awesome!