TEAM STANDERT KICKS OFF THE RACING SEASON AT THE SIX DAY BERLIN X RAD RACE LAST WO/MAN STANDING.
The Six Day Berlin formerly known as the Berliner Sechstagerennen. A place where legends and heroes are born under the sound of fans blowing their whistles to the Sportpalast Walzer. Kids admiring their stars, teenage racers presenting themselves to the crowds for the first time, massive sprinters batteling it out on the fastest laps and the pros pushing each other to the limit in the chase of gaining laps. Action packed racing over six days. A traditional happening in Berlins Velodrome, a Mecca of bike racing.
This year for the first time Six Day Berlin organized a brand curve. Nicely situated at the top floor of the Velodrome it gave us the chance to present ourselves to a great audience of track and other cycling enthusiasts. The feedback was great and as we spoke to the people, some of them coming from all over Germany to the Six Day races for more than 30 years, we felt like there's an extreme interest in young brands and new racing formats. From our booth we luckily had a superb view to watch the racing before getting dressed and heading to the wooden track ourselves.
For the first time in history amateurs got the chance to race within the Six Day program. A great opportunity for all the high profile fixed gear racers to show their strength under the same conditions as the pros. For the spectators an entertaining and impressive addition to the well known Six Day program. But foremost a perfect bridge between different groups of hardcore bike enthusiasts.
Rad Race did a great job in taking the role to make this possible. In a Last Wo/Man Standing or - as the Six Day fans know it - an elimination race, 80 male and 20 female amateurs (and former pros) from all over Europe raced for fame and the fun of it. In there of course our locals from Team Standert. Ready to kick off the racing season on the big stage. It's showtime!
On Friday we raced the 1/8 finals and Silvio, Magnus, Peter and Bene made it into the 1/4 finals on Saturday. There the competition got rougher but still Peter, Silvio and Bene moved up into the 1/2 finals to fight for the final of ten riders. Our most track experienced riders Silvio and Peter made it into the finals and everything looked really promising. But elimination races have their own rules and tiny mistakes result in the elimination very easily. Silvio got boxed in and finished 8th. Peter was racing very smart over the whole event but one second of not being well positioned led him to crash out as 6th. He's fine, just some bruises and some skin left in the velodrome - 'Nur Tapete!' (only wallpaper) as the pros say.
In the women's race the competition was just as tough as in the men's event. In the end it was a domination of strength by Tanja from Fixedpott who raced the 27 lap long final on her Umlaufbahn mostly from the front, beating experienced track cyclists and debuting in style for the Fixedpott team, proudly sponsored by Standert.
