American Velodrome Challenge draws international field

The American Velodrome Challenge (AVC) will be held at the Hellyer Velodrome in San Jose, California on June 26-27. The event will feature sprint and endurance racing including the keirin, points race, miss-n-out, scratch, Madison and sprint events in which racers compete for nearly US$15,000 in cash prizes.

In the endurance women's events, Shelley Olds (Proman) will be back to defend her points and scratch race titles.

"The AVC is one of the highlights of my season every year," said Olds. "It's fantastic to have a race of this caliber at my local track."

The women's sprint events will see Jen Featheringill (Bike Central) defend her keirin and sprint titles against US national champion Cari Higgins (Proman) and Cristin Walker, the US Under 23 National Sprint Champion.

2008 winner Kenny Williams (First Rate Mortgage) will defend his points race title against the 2007 winner Benjamin Jacques-Maynes (Bissell). Jason Allen (Subway - Avanti), a track World Cup Gold medalist, Daniel Holloway (Holowesko-Garmin), US Champion and World Cup bronze medalist, and New Zealand's Hayden Godfrey (Subway - Avanti), the 2008 Omnium World Champion, will also be in the mix.

Gio Rey (Montano Velo) will be back to win after being pipped at the line in the 2008 elite men's keirinExpect Jimmy Watkins (Empower Coaching), current US sprint and keirin champion, and his team sprint teammate Kelyn Akuna to make the race fast.

Other nations represented at AVC include: Canada, Slovakia and Germany.

For more information, visit www.ridethetrack.com/avc