Impressive field comes together for Perth International Track Cycling Grand Prix

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A blazing international field of national, European and World Champion track cyclists will once again descend on Perth to tear up the boards at the Chevron 2012 Perth International Track Cycling Grand Prix.

This year marks the 12th running of the Perth International Track Cycling Grand Prix. Now a UCI Category 1 Event, this competition will showcase track cycling at its very best and will act as a warm up event to the 2012 World Championships to be held in Melbourne from 4-8th April.

Perth's cycling fans will witness local stars, including multiple world champion Cameron Meyer, compete against elite-level riders from around the globe, all chasing UCI points in an extravaganza of speed and action at the Midvale Speeddome on March 24th.

Event Director Murray Hall was delighted to secure local champion Sarah Kent, "World Champion and world record holder Sarah Kent is now confirmed to ride which adds great depth to the women's endurance events and the fact that she is Perth born and bred is great news for the local fans. We are thrilled to have her on the start line".

Kent was also thrilled to be competing at the Grand Prix: "Racing in front of your home crowd in an event of this magnitude is magnificent for the morale. It simply doesn't get any better than this!"

Local legend Meyer also spoke of his eagerly awaited appearance at the event, "The Perth Grand Prix will be my final hit out before defending my World Title in Melbourne. I have my sights set on the Grand Prix double, the points and scratch races. I have the form to do it."

The field includes riders from Japan, USA, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, The Philippines, Germany, Switzerland and Australia as they prepare for the upcoming World Championships to be held in Melbourne in April.

"This is the biggest event on the WA cycling calendar in 2012 and a great opportunity to see some of the world's best track cyclists in action here in Perth as they prepare for the World Championships in Melbourne in April" said Garry Chandler, chief executive of Cycling WA.

"The Grand Prix also gives local cycling fans an opportunity to see our home grown champions racing in front of their home crowd which they don't often have the chance to do" he continued.

Other confirmed starters include an array of World, European and National champions including national and European champions Silvan Dillier currently ranked world no.1 in the madison, and Cyrille Thiery (Switzerland), national champion and Track World Cup Winner Charlotte Becker (Germany), European and national champion Evegenya Romanyuta currently ranked world no.3 in the omnium (Russia) and Asian Champion Kazunari Watanabe (Japan).