Track Racing

Track Racing is a mixture of team, solo & timed.

Very fast yet sometimes standing still, you need to see track racing before you can get to grips with it, and it can be a very exciting sport to watch.

A bike with no brakes or gears, fixed wheel so if you try to stop pedalling, Bang down you go. It is fast most of the time and you need your wits about you so as not to cause or be in a crash.

As with road racing you need a license, club colours and a cycle crash hat.

Track racing is also governed by the B.C.F, so again race details are in the same handbook as road race events. Most track race entries need to be paid for in advance, as much as 4 weeks ahead. But as some of you will have found Organizers of track events and Leagues will take entries on the line most times.

Tracks are constructed either of Wood, Concrete and Tarmac, there are some that have all weather surfaces that dry quickly if it does rain. Some are indoor, but most are open to the elements.

This country being fortunate to have one of the best indoor tracks in the World at Manchester, the venue of Chris Boardman's hour record, along with a number of provincial tracks of varying quality. The nearest to Kent is the track at Herne Hill in London. The nearest others are about 100 miles away. These vary from 150 metres to 500 metres in circumference with high banking or in some cases no banking at all, the track at Brighton even includes a novelty in track racing - a 90 degree turn.
Although track racing is not held as often as road or time trials it is a popular spectator event and most riders use this type of racing for training and speed work however as events depend on the weather they are liable to cancellation or curtailment.
Most local tracks hold leagues either using their own method of ranking riders according to ability or the standard B.C.F rankings, and as road racing entry on the day is now generally available and organizers will issue day licenses. 

Events generally comprise a mixture of:

Keirin (men and women): The kierin is a race in which riders sprint after completing a series of laps behind a single motorbike pacer (derny). The event has its history in Japan where it is enormously popular and where huge amounts of money are bet on the races. The starting positions of the riders are sometimes decided by drawing lots. The first rider is obliged to follow the motor-bike initially & riders will then jostle for the position to give themselves the best position for the start of the sprint. They are not allowed to pass the motorbike until it swings off the track with a few laps to go.

Sprints, either handicapped where riders are given a distance advantage over the fastest rider or scratch where all riders start at the same mark and ride for a number of laps before the final sprint.

Pursuits, these can take the form of standard pursuits, riders being either individual or a team, on opposite sides of the track attempting to catch each other, in a given number of laps. Australian pursuits which are generally over a few laps and aimed at sprinters where team members takes a turns at the front with one member dropping out until only one remains to sprint to the line.

Madison, teams of riders, generally two per team, with at least one member of the team racing at any one time who would then relay his team mate into the action and take a rest. This event is usually interspersed with a number of interval sprints. The winning team being that which gains the most laps and / or points on the others.

Points Races, individual events covering a large number of laps with sprints at regular intervals, the winner being the person who gains the most points during the sprints.

Devil Takes the Hindmost, all riders start at the same time with the last rider over the line dropping out until the stated number are left to contest the final sprint.

Motor paced events are also held, where riders either position themselves behind a lead motorized bike or derny or each rider has his own pacing derny.

This is a derny, a small motor cycle that the rider has to push to get started and is then used to pace the riders.

Further details can be obtained via the B.C.F or the Club Secretary.