Happy Homecoming for Old Hands : Garrett, Eickhoff Gain Titles in Return to Encino Velodrome

How appropriate it seemed that, on the eve of the Schwinn Far West Track Championships’ silver anniversary at the Encino Velodrome, two of the track’s more successful racers would come home.

Mark Garrett and Janie Eickhoff, both of whom sharpened their riding skills at Encino before moving on to international circles, were among the biggest winners Saturday night after two days of racing.

“It’s nice to come back and see the old crowd and talk and catch up,” said Eickhoff, who is from Los Alamitos. “And there’s good racing too.”

Eickhoff, 19, began track racing in Encino five years ago. She since has gone on to win a bronze medal in this year’s World Championships in addition to winning seven different national championships. Saturday night, she capped a highly successful season by winning the senior women’s omnium title.

“This is one of my favorite tracks in the United States,” she said. “It’s such a friendly atmosphere, it doesn’t even seem like racing much.”

Eickhoff’s most difficult chore was to fight off three riders--all from the Velo Club La Grange, including Granada Hills’ Dara Rogers--in the scratch final. Eickhoff, a Team Lycra member who owns the world record in the one kilometer, broke out in the lead and never trailed.

“I knew there were three of them out there, so I couldn’t be behind,” she said. “My best bet was to go to the front and keep the pace fast and hopefully nobody would go over the top.”

She won going away.

And speaking of going away, the sudden departure of U. S. Olympian Ken Carpenter, who had already accumulated enough points to win the senior men’s omnium, left the door wide open for Garrett to win the match sprint title.

Carpenter was forced to withdraw because of teammate Clovis Anderson’s crash. Garrett, a sprint specialist himself, was sorry to see Carpenter go.

“You always feel that when there’s someone that good, that you kind of backed into it,” said Garrett, who won the match sprint final--an event in which he surely would have met Carpenter. “Of course, I’m happy.

“No one has ever gone faster on this track than I have.”

Garrett, 26, is the Encino record-holder for the flying 200-meter and the flying lap on the 250-meter oval.

“It’s my favorite track in the country,” he said. “I learned to sprint on this track.”