Change was in the air at Revolution 36 where – as well as a world close field of sprinters (see separate report) the Australian Pursuit that has featured in every round this season was replaced with a thrill-packed 40 lap Derny race. With the senior team championship as well as the Boys’ and Girls’ Future Stars trophies still up for grabs, the racing was always going to be fast and furious…
The Team Elmination race, as always, came down to tactics with Maxgear Racing clearly riding as a team while their opponents allowed themselves to be divided. Several teams were eliminated despite having a rider at or near the head of the race and one – or, on a couple of occasions, two – at the back. Rapha Condor Sharp pipped Rouleur to third place.
Team Elimination
1 Maxgear Racing
2 Rapha Condor Sharp
3 Rouleur
4 Sky Procycling
5 Chep UK
6 Cunga Bikes
7 Team UK Youth
8 Howies
Alex Dowsett of Sky Procycling took over from team mate Ian Stannard who’d made the early running before switching to supporting Dowsett on the run in. Stannard and Michael Morkov of Howies who’d both scored points in the first two sprints were then part of a group of five riders – along with Marc Hester and Tom Moses of Chep UK and Dean Downing of Rapha Condor Sharp.
It wasn’t long before Dowsett, Jon Mould of Howies and Maxgear Racing’s Yates twins joined them a lap up on the field with Mould and Howies taking over from Morkov at the top of the leader board. Dowsett, Mould and Morkov then traded points over the next couple of sprints with Dowsett pulling five points clear of Mould – who then took the penultimate sprint to move within two points.
Morkov – five points behind – did all he could. He won the final sprint to take the lead for a split second – Dowsett rolling over the line two places behind him to take the win by two points.
Points Race
1 Alex DOWSETT Sky Procycling 26 pts
2 Michael MORKOV Howies 24
3 Jon MOULD Howies 22
4 Ian STANNARD 15
5 Adam YATES 14
6 Marc HESTER 13
Cunga Bikes duo George Atkins and Owain Doull went off first and set the benchmark in the Madison Kilo Time Trial, sneaking under the magic sixty second mark with a 59.463. Alex Dowsett seemed to have set up Sky Procycling to challenge for the lead but partner Jesper Morkov couldn’t match his pace and the clock stopped at 1:00.287. In the second session the Howies duo of Michael Morkov and Jon Mould went close with a 59.645 but the only other pair to go under the minute mark was the Team UK Youth pairing of Mark Christian and Claudio Imhof who flew round in 59.036. Four of the riders in the top three pairs had competed in the 200 lap Madison earlier in the afternoon, which no doubt helped with the technique and is clearly the perfect warm up for a flying 500m effort…
1km Madison Time Trial
1 Team Youth UK 59.036
2 Cunga Bikes 59.463
3 Howies 59.645
4 Rapha Condor Sharp 1:00.055
5 Sky Procycling 1:00.287
6 Maxgear Racing 1:00.994
7 Chep UK 1:02.027
8 Rouleur 1:02.293
An entertaining 40 lap Derny race saw pacer Paul Anderson and Dean Downing of Rapha Condor Sharp take an early lead and attempt to whip up the crowd before Ian Stannard rode alongside pacer Graham Bristow to plan his attack, which saw them take control of the middle portion of the race. The closing stages saw a three-way battle between Claudio Imhof of Team UK Youth – paced by Doug Pinkerton, Michael Morkov of Howies who was paired with Dave Urquhart and Simon Yates of Maxgear and his pacer Derek Marloe. As they poured on the pace it was Imhof and Pinkerton who faded first with Yates and Marlow managing to hold Morkov and Urquhart in the final few laps to take the win from an obviously frustrated Morkov.
Derny Scratch Race
1 Simon YATES Maxgear Racing
2 Michael MORKOV Howies
3 George ATKINS Cung Bikes
4 Claudio IMHOF Team UK Youth
5 Ian STANNARD Sky Procycling
6 Tom MURRAY Rouleur
7 Dean DOWNING Rapha Condor Sharp
8 Marc HESTER Chep UK
In the last few laps of the Scratch Race Adam Yates of Maxgear Racing and Mark Christian of Team UK Youth tried to break away from the field. Christian couldn’t live with Yates’ pace but the Maxgear Racing rider was swamped in the run-in and had to settle for sixth. But there was to be no frustration for Morkov in the final event of the evening – and of the season – as the Howies rider took the Scratch Race easily from Yates to reverse the result from the Derny race. George Atkins of Cunga Bikes headed home Christian Grasmann of Rapha Condor Sharp to take third.
Scratch Race
1 Michael MORKOV Howies
2 Simon YATES Maxgear Racing
3 George ATKINS Cunga Bikes
4 Christian GRASMANN Rapha Condor Sharp
5 Joe KELLY Rouleur
6 Adam YATES Maxgear Racing
The performance of the Yates twins on the night – and throughout the series – were decisive in the end with Simon finishing on top of the individual points standing with Adam second and with Maxgear Racing taking the Series win overall.
Overall Series
1 Simon YATES Maxgear Racing 191 pts
2 Adam YATES Maxgear Racing 158
3 Jon MOULD Howies 149
4 Steven BURKE Team UK Youth 145
5 Alex DOWSETT Sky Procycling 141
6 Tom MURRAY Rouleur 123
7 David O’LOUGHLIN Cunga Bikes 105
8 Tom MOSES Chep UK 103
9 Sam HARRISON Rouleur 101
10 Alistair SLATER Chep UK 99
Series Result
1 Maxgear Racing 685 pts
2 Sky Procycling 654
3 Howies 636
4 Chep UK 624
5 Team UK Youth 619
6 Rapha Condor Sharp 559
7 Rouleur 549
8 Cunga Bikes 433
DHL Future Stars
Girls
Having dominated the series all winter it looked like Emily Kay of Cunga Bikes was taking the night off with her closest challenger Eilie Coster of Howies taking the the opening 6 Lap Dash from team mate Rebecca Hunt with Kay down in fourth. And it was Hunt that dominated the Points race taking 12 of a possible 15 points – with Kay back in sixth. Normal service was resumed in the final race of the evening – and the season – with Kay pipping Hunt on the line to take a record breaking third consecutive Future Stars title.
Coster sealed second overall in the Series with Melissa Lowther of Chep UK taking third ahead of Hunt.
6 Lap Dash
1 Ellie COSTER Howies
2 Emily HAYCOX Howies
3 Melissa LOWTHER Chep UK
4 Emily KAY Cunga Bikes
5 Charlotte BROUGHTON Sky Procycling
6 Emily NELSON Cunga Bikes
Points Race
1 Rebecca HUNT Howies 12 pts
2 Melissa LOWTHER Chep UK 5
3 Grace GARNER Sky Procycling 5
4 Lauren O’BRIEN Chep UK 4
5 Beth HAYWARD Rapha Condor Sharp 3
6 Emily KAY Cunga Bikes 3
Scratch Race
1 Emily KAY Cunga Bikes
2 Rebecca HUNT Howies
3 Charlotte BROUGHTON Sky Procycling
4 Emily NELSON Cunga Bikes
5 Ellie COSTER Howies
6 Grace GARNER Sky Procycling
Overall Series
1 Emily KAY Cunga Bikes 342 pts
2 Ellie COSTER Howies 249
3 Melissa LOWTHER 245
4 Rebecca HUNT Howies 243
5 Megan BOYD Maxgear Racing 198
6 Emily NELSON Cung Bikes 189
7 Megan BARKER Rouleur 172
8 Lauren O’BRIEN Chep UK 168
9 Charlotte BROUGHTON Sky Procycling 157
10 Abbie-Mae PARKINSON Chep UK 144
Boys
As with the Girls event, the run away series leader Jake Ragan was heavily marked in the final round and had to wait to claim his title – albeit in some style. Jacon Scott of Chep UK took the opening Scratch Race from Ragan’s team mate Chris Lawless – with Ragan back in sixth. He managed third in the 6 Lap Dash with Scott’s team mate Oliver Wood taking the honours this time. But, like Kay, Ragan rounded off the evening and the series with a win – taking the Points race from Lawless, Wood and Scott to tie up the overall Series win.
In fact, those four riders dominated the final table with Ragan on top followed by Wood, Scott and Lawless.
Scratch Race
1 Jacob SCOTT Chep UK
2 Chris LAWLESS Maxgear Racing
3 Matt CROSS Howies
4 Oliver WOOD Chep UK
5 Fabio CLOSE Sky Procycling
6 Jake RAGAN Maxgear Racing
6 Lap Dash
1 Oliver WOOD Chep UK
2 Adam LEWIS Cunga Bikes
3 Jake RAGAN Maxgear Racing
4 Tom ARNSTEIN Rouleur
5 Jack HOYLE Rapha Condor Sharp
6 Alan TROLOVE Repha Condor Sharp
Points Race
1 Jake RAGAN Maxgear Racing 11 pts
2 Chris LAWLESS Maxgear Racing 8
3 Jacob SCOTT Chep UK 6
4 Oliver WOOD Chep UK 5
5 Adam LEWIS Cunga Bikes 4
6 Jack HOYLE Rapha Condor Sharp
Overall Series
1 Jake RAGAN Maxgear Racing 291 pts
2 Oliver WOOD Chep UK 258
3 Jacob SCOTT Chep UK 250
4 Chris LAWLESS Maxgear Racing 220
5 Adam LEWIS Cunga Bikes 215
6 Jack HOYLE 207
7 Matt CROSS Howies 186
8 Jake KELLY Rouleur 172
9 Owen JAMES Howies 171
10 Tristan ROBBINS Team UK Youth 160
Series Result
1 Chep UK 1238 pts
2 Howies 1156
3 Maxgear Racing 1047
4 Cunga Bikes 991
5 Rapha Condor Sharp 966
6 Rouleur 865
7 Sky Procycling 842
8 Team UK Youth 730
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