In front of a sell out crowd, 45 of the UK’s top young riders engaged in a thrilling battle for the inaugural DHL Future Stars leader’s jersey of Series 6. Emerging victorious were Sam Harrison and Ruby Miller; two supremely talented riders who are both already being tipped for the top in years to come.
Phil West commented: “It was really great to kick off this seasons Future Stars competition with such high quality racing, the level of these riders just keeps getting better and better, with average speeds of races spiralling up and up.”
Phil continued: “The challenge for the boy’s title was laid down by Sam Harrison of Wales already a multiple national champion on the track; it will be interesting to see what the other riders will come up with to stop him in his tracks! His compatriot Ruby Miller was equally strong in the FS girl’s events although she’ll need to be on her toes to hold off the likes of Lucy Garner and Harriet Owen in the race for the overall.”
Sam outclassed the field in the first two events of the night, the Points and 6 Lap Dash. Having pushed himself to the limit, he was finally defeated in the last event, the Scratch Race by Kian Emadi. Sam was delighted with his results, saying: “The racing was very fast and competitive. You had to be very aware to be in the right position in the closing stages. I think that sprinters such as Kian Emadi will be my biggest competition as the short races suit them. I don’t think I will be able to hold on to the overall lead as I am probably going to miss the revolution in January due to the Cyclo-Cross Nationals.”
Despite his victories, Sam has just a four point lead going into the next event in December. He will have to work hard to stay at the front of 2nd placed Chris Nicholson and Simon Yates in 3rd; both rode strongly and were highly place throughout the evening.
Chris is determined to challenge Sam at the next event, saying “The racing’s short and very fast and we don’t usually have such big crowds and that makes it even quicker than normal. I came 2nd, 3rd and 4th so I’m going to go for a win at the next one. To win overall, consistency will be the key. I think I could win, Sam’s strong but if I can beat him in a few races who knows what could happen. Thank you to all involved in the event and especially to DHL for giving us the opportunity to race at this level.”
Harriet Owen and Ruby Miller duelled hard in the first two races, finishing first and second alternately in the Points and Scratch. With incredible stamina and determination, Lucy Garner was able to come through and win the final race, the 6 Lap dash at the end of the night. As with the Future Stars Boys the final scores after the first event are close and Ruby will have to pull out all the stops to beat Lucy and Laura Trott who are just six points behind in equal 2nd with 80 points.
In the team competition, Series 5 winner, the North West is already edging ahead with 424 points, 65 points clear of the East Midlands with 359.
With three more events and over 2400 points available at the next Revolution in December, the competition is far from won and there are sure to be many more fierce contests as the riders fight to win the coveted DHL Leaders Jersey.