Revolution 21 kicked off the 2008/9 series with a full house of both spectators and stars. An amazingly talented field including the some of the best British riders as well as guests from Australia and America entertained a sell out crowd with some surprising results.
Stuart O’Grady made his Revolution debut as Brad McGee was competing professionally for the last time. Endurance won over sprint speed in the flying 750 TT and Becky James proved she’s a force to be reckoned with by dominating the women’s racing after a lengthy illness.
Highlights of the evening were two Revolution specials – a twist on the traditional time trail saw the Sprinters vs Endurance 750m Flying TT and a 1km Madison TT. Endurance riders Ed Clancy, Steven Burke and Geraint Thomas set an incredible time for the Sprinters; sadly for Jamie Staff, Ross Edgar and Jason Kenny the flying start had leveled the field a little too much and they couldn’t come up with the goods and were defeated by over 1 second. In the Madison too Clancy on amazing form, he and Burke won comfortably by 3 seconds from Chris Newton and Rob Hayles.
After some serious post Beijing celebrations, Thomas was back on form taking the Motor Paced Scratch having led the race from the moment the derny left the track. McGee was determined to finish his career on a high and won the traditional Scratch despite attacks from Hayles, Kennaugh and the in form Clancy. In the Points race Newton showed the same form he’d done to take the victory in the recent World Cup winning comfortably over second and third placed O’Grady and Burke.
Showing off his SKY + HD team kit, Jamie Staff was taking a turn competing solo in the Sprint. Despite his awesome power, Matt Crampton was on flying form and defeated Staff in the Semi 1. Ross Edgar used semi 2 to defeat Kenny in a photo finish however his speed wasn’t enough to hold off Crampton in the final and the SIS rider took the victory easily. Later in the evening, Crampton was once again a force to be reckoned with and beat his fellow Keirin specialists Staff and Edgar again to take the Keirin and his second bouquet of the evening.
James dominated the women’s racing, back from a long break, she won the Points race comfortably beating Dani King and Alex Greenfield. In the Devil too her superb speed took her to the front and despite the efforts of American rider Kacey Manderfield in the final sprint, James won again to the delight of the crowds.
The first round of the DHL Future Stars was fiercely contested with the talented youngsters battling hard to secure an early lead in the first of four rounds. In the girls racing, Harriet Owen and Ruby Miller laid down the gauntlet, taking 1st and 2nd alternately in the Points and Scratch. Unlucky Owen was brought down by a crash in the Dash and the race was won by Lucy Garner with Harriet Barnes in just behind. This was not enough to stop Miller taking the leaders Jersey at the end of the evening. In the boys, Sam Harrison took the initiative winning both the dash and the points race. His luck didn’t hold to take the third race however 5th place was enough to secure him the victory and give him the first leaders jersey.
Revolution will be back on 6th December and the stunning sprint line up will ensure another evening of action packed racing, thrills and spills. Chris Hoy’s back on the track in the UK for the first time since Beijing and will be joined by a host of stars including Tuen Mulder, double World Champion, European Champion and three times National Champion, and Roberto Chiappa, 13 times Italian National Champion.