Official z6s Daagse Vlaanderen Gent website || Nightly Event Results Pages

Intro :: Day 1 :: Day 2 :: Day 3 :: Day 4 :: Day 6 :: Inside the Gent Six :: U23 American riders East and Carroll Interview

SATURDAY NIGHT IN GHENT - Day 5

by Steve Penny
Ghent, Belgium
22nd November 2008

The Ghent Six goes into the final two days with 4 teams still in with a chance of taking the overall honours at 18:00 (CET) on Sunday afternoon. In the pole position are of course Iljo Keisse and Robert Bartko, who look poised to repeat their 2007 victory. However, they will be wary of complacency as they themselves only won last year after a late break that took a lap from the field.

Kenny De Ketele is putting up a great show, currently in 3rd place with Andreas Beikirch. He really wanted to race with Keisse here in Gent, but for the immediate future Iljo is committed to his partnership with Robert Bartko and De Ketele will have to wait a few more years; but he has time on his side.

Alex Aeschbach has settled into his role alongside the boss of the Six Days, Bruno Risi. As noted previously, Alex was struggling a little in the first days coming from the Milan Six, which he told us was “very dangerous”. The crash Paolo Bettini had is available for all to see on ‘You Tube’ but he assures us that was far from being the only spill over the Six Days.

After last nights crash Marc Hester was limping heavily and looks to be out of the Six, although his name continued to appear on the overall standings, meaning Luke Roberts will contest only the individual races during the remainder of the programme.

THE RACING

The Standings before Fridays start:

Keisse / Bartko		302 Points
Zabel / Lampater		246
+ 1 lap
De Ketele / Beikirch	207 
Risi / Aeschbach		164
+ 2 laps
Stam / Schep		118
+ 8 laps
Mertens / Muller		190
+ 11 laps
Jorgensen / Madsen		170
+ 12 laps
Roberts / Hester		129
+ 15 laps
Van Bon / Ligthart		193
+ 18 laps
De Fauw / Deneef		150
+ 20 laps
Ciccone / Masotti		 90
+ 40 laps
Cocquyt / Depoortere	111

The opening Point’s race warms up the riders as well as offering a chance to start the night in style. This evening Mertens and Muller took the win from Keisse / Bartko continuing their good showing, Mertens really is one for the future. The Team Elimination is always run off at a fast pace and tonight was no different, Risi / Aeschbach seem determined to race hard and close in on a bonus lap, so they were left in at the end with Stam / Schep. The two up sprint goes to Schep from Aeschbach in a clash of two non sprinters.

The flying lap Time Trial (TT) is once again a procession for Keisse / Bartko, albeit a very popular one, in a blistering 8.79 seconds (68.259) km/h. With Franco Marvulli absent and Dimitri De Fauw again not in good form there have been no challengers to the Keisse domination around the tight 166 metre track.

The first Madison, over the usual 40 minutes + 10 laps, is a good one for Risi / Aeschbach and De Ketele / Beikirch who gain a lap on the field going into the last 10 laps. Surprisingly the De Ketele / Beikirch combination attack with 5 laps to go and thus nullify any potential to win the sprint. Aeschbach easily came past De Ketele on the last bend. The lap gained put the Swiss pair just 4 points away from a bonus and the outright lead by 1 lap. Their points total won’t gain them the Six Day win but being a lap ahead would.

The first Derny race saw a frightening looking crash for Casper Jorgensen who touched his pacing motorbike and fell heavily on a bend. He got up too finish a race won by young sensation Tim Mertens. The Italian pair Ciccone / Masotti has had a tough Six Days, so it was a long overdue win in the individual Elimination race for Fabio Masotti. The 34 year old from Udine, in the North-East of Italy, took it from ‘lowlander’ Pim Ligthart. The second Derny race was another seemingly dramatic last gasp, bunny hop across the line win for Iljo Keisse and his National Track coach Michel Vaarten. Another one for the home crowd maybe? Either way, the crowd were entertained and that is all part of any Six Day race; giving the public what they want. The 500 metre TT is another home banker for Keisse / Bartko, although there can be no pre-arrangements against the clock and their TT domination is again absolute, posting 28.17 (63.898 km/h). A decent time from Van Bon / Ligthart of 28.72 (62.674 km/h) saw them the only other team to break 29 seconds.

The final late night Madison of this Six was another titanic struggle between the main teams. Very close to the finish, Risi / Aeschbach, and Stam / Schep had a 1 lap lead over the other top teams and with the 4 points for a bonus lap, guaranteed they were close to taking a 2 lap lead at the top of the standings. In the end though, De Ketele / Beikirch and Zabel / Lampater followed soon after by Keisse / Bartko, got back on equal laps with Keisse taking a close sprint for first place. No time for bunny hops on this occasion. Risi / Aeschbach did have the consolation of a bonus lap to take the overall lead at 1 lap clear. Zabel / Lampater had 290 points and Keisse / Bartko 369, so both of those teams will have their bonus lap before the final Madison on Sunday afternoon. It’s been a good comeback performance from the Swiss riders after such a bad start when they lost those 2 laps on the first night.

After a hard Madison for the leaders, it was once again the turn of the riders from further down the field to shine in the late night / early morning Supersprint and Scratch races. Dimitri De Fauw took the Supersprint and after Tim Mertens led the crowd in a Mexican wave, Leon Van Bon took the Scratch from Luke Roberts and Erik Zabel who took his team 5 points closer to the bonus lap. The 3rd round of Derny racing was won by Bruno Risi and the big guy himself, Joop Ziljaard, from De Ketele and Vaarten. The last individual Elimination race is merely a warm down for the main players and Iljo Keisse, Andreas Beikirch and Erik Zabel were 3 of the first 4 to go out, no doubt all had a good nights rest on their minds before Sunday’s big showdown. With only the lower placed riders left in the bunch it was the well rested Luke Roberts who took the sprint from Nicky Cocquyt. The 4th and final Derny race, again involving the lesser lights, was taken by De Fauw who has won a few races over the week, although most have been after 12:30am when the crowd is thinning and big names easing back.

All that remained to wrap up another busy programme were the Keirin races won by Nicky Cocquyt and the busy Tim Mertens, respectively. Zabel got the points required for the bonus lap to sit on top of the standings with Lampater going into the final day. With the two TT's on Sundays programme, Keisse / Bartko will; barring accidents, start the hour long Madison in poll position with a massive lead on points and only needing to defend rather than attack.

Standings after Day 5:

Zabel / Lampater		302 Points
Risi / Aeschbach		216
+ 1 lap
Keisse / Bartko		376
De Ketele / Beikirch	241 
+ 3 laps
Stam / Schep		164
+ 11 laps
Mertens / Muller		240
+ 13 laps
Jorgensen / Madsen		206
+ 18 laps
Van Bon / Ligthart		264
+ 22 laps
Roberts / Hester		149
+ 25 laps
De Fauw / Deneef		197
+ 25 laps
Ciccone / Masotti		141
+ 48 laps
Cocquyt / Depoortere	144