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Report: Revolution 31

December 11, 2010 | Manchester Velodrome  | Ed Rollason Photos
Report and Video: Eddie Allen | Images: Larry Hickmott

The pre-Christmas Revolution has always been a bumper edition and the final Revolution of 2010 was no exception, with a packed house and an equally packed schedule of racing, with a mixture of old favourites and some exciting new race formats. The Team Elimination, Australian Pursuit and Team Points race gave the crowd, the commentator and the riders plenty to think about while in other ways it was business as usual, with the Downing brothers and the mercurial Franco Marvulli engaging with the crowd as only they can, Emily Kay in control of the DHL Future Stars Girls contest and the pancake man doing a roaring trade on the concourse, keeping the hungry Manchester crowd topped up. Add in some hot Dutch sprinting talent and ding-dong battle between Matt Rotherham and Sam Lowe in the DHL Future Stars Boys competition, and it was action all the way from the green light at 7 o'clock to kicking out time, way past 10 o'clock. Eddie Allen was there to report another busy night at the ‘drome.

TEAM ELIMINATION

The opening event of the evening was an interesting hybrid event, the team elimination, essentially a Madison-Devil race, with elimination sprints every three laps. The teams were quickly whittled down until just Le Col and Team Sky were left, with Le Col the eventual victors.

1. Le Col
2. Team Sky
3. Manchester City Council

REVOLUTION SPRINT

Dave Daniell took an accomplished victory in the Revolution Sprint against a class field including some big names like Ross Edgar, Pete Mitchell and Teun Mulder. Daniell set out his stall from the start, comfortably fastest in the 200m time trial. Round 1 saw no real upsets, with all but one of the seeds beating their opponents. Daneill faced Dutchman Hugo Haak and dispatched him, before facing GB stablemate and fellow prodigy Pete Mitchell in the Semis. Meanwhile Daniell's eventual adversary in the final, Dutchman Roy Van Den Berg had qualified just behind Daniell and pipped up and coming Louis Oliva in the first round. The punchy Van Den Berg then produced the shock of the competition, beating his legendary countryman Teun Mulder in the semis, to earn a place against the on-form Daniell in the final. In the end it was an easy victory for Daniell, who took the race from the front and had the pace to keep Van Den Berg on a short leash.

200m Time Trial

1. Dave Daniell Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta 10.338
2. Roy Van Den Berg Maxgear Racing 10.394
3. Teun Mulder Le Col 10.428
4. Ross Edgar Team Sky 10.467
5. Pete Mitchell Manchester City Council 10.550
6. Phillip Hindes Revolution All Stars 10.846
7. Louis Oliva Chep UK 10.864
8. Hugo Haak Rapha Condor Sharp 10.921

Round 1

Heat 1: Dave Daniell beat Hugo Haak
Heat 2: Roy Van Den Berg beat Louis Oliva
Heat 3: Teun Mulder beat Phillip Hindes
Heat 4: Pete Mitchell beat Ross Edgar

Semi Final

Semi Final 1: Dave Daniell beat Pete Mitchell
Semi Final 2: Roy Van Den Berg beat Teun Mulder

Loser's Six Lap Dash

1. Hugo Haak
2. Teun Mulder
3. Phillip Hindes

Sprint Final

1. Dave Daniell Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta
2. Roy Van Den Berg Maxgear Racing

DHL FUTURE STARS GIRLS POINTS RACE

Amy Roberts took victory in the first of the Future Stars girls' events, the points race. Roberts took the race to series leader Emily Kay from the first sprint, claiming maximum points. Roberts scored three more points in the second sprint and at the halfway point led the race ahead of Alice Barnes. However, Roberts was out of the points in the third sprint, which was taken by Hannah Layland, with Kay taking two valuable points, and a chance of getting back into the race. However, Roberts was determined to keep hold of her early lead, and won the final sprint to claim overall victory. Kay could only manage third place in the final sprint and would place third overall, with Layland edging her out of the runner's up spot.

Result

1. Amy Roberts 13 pts
2. Hannah Layland 8 pts
3. Emily Kay 7 pts
4. Alice Barnes 6 pts

DHL FUTURE STARS BOYS SCRATCH RACE 5KM

The Future Stars Boys scratch race played into the hands of demon sprinter and DHL series leader Matt Rotherham, with the race staying together until the final sprint. Rotherham's nearest competitor, Sam Lowe led the race out at the bell, but Rotherham was always going to have the last laugh in a drag race, with Harry Tanfield sweeping past a fading Lowe to take second.

1. Matt Rotherham Maxgear Racing
2. Harry Tanfield Chep UK
3. Sam Lowe Team Sky

1KM MADISON TIME TRIAL

Le Col's dark blue duo of Andy Fenn and team captain Franco Marvulli took a slim victory in the Madison 1km TT, a gnat's ahead of Manchester City Council's red devils, Claudio Imhof and Welsh express Sam Harrision.

1. Le Col - Andy Fenn and Franco Marvulli - 58.485
2. Manchester City Council - Claudio Imhof and Sam Harrison - 58.536
3. Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta - Mark Christian and Kit Carsen - 59.514
4. Team Sky - Peter Kennaugh and Russell Downing - 59.917
5. Maxgear Racing - Simon Yates and Leif Lampeter - 59.967
6. Chep UK - Jens Eric Madsen and Alex Dowsett - 1:01.459
7. Revolution All Stars - Tom Moses and Eric Rowsell - 1:02.59
8. Rapha Condor Sharp - Dean Downing and Alastair Rutherford - 1:02.740

DHL FUTURE STARS 6 LAP DASH GIRLS

After missing out in the opening DHL Future Stars girls' event, Emily Kay made amends by winning the six lap dash. No doubt smarting from her uncharacteristic performance in the points, Emily played to her strength - her sprint - and made sure she was in the right place at the right time, out-dragging Rebecca Hunt on the line.

1. Emily Kay Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta
2. Rebecca Hunt Revolution All Stars
3. Amy Hill Le Col

TEAM POINTS RACE

Le Col won the battle-royal of the Team Points race (basically a Points race contested by teams of three riders, each team changing riders at 40 and 20 laps to go. Confused? So was the crowd!) However, Marvulli's team didn't have it all their own way. Le Col won the first sprint only to figure out of the points in sprint two, which was taken by Team Sky. Sky managed to point consistently and keep the lead, with Maxgear Racing and Le Col snapping at their heels, until sprint number seven when Le Col finally wrested the overall lead. However, the lead swapped back into the hands of Sky in the very next sprint. However, following the final change of riders at 20 laps to go, Le Col fielded their strongest rider and started to accrue points in every sprint, gradually edging away from Team Sky and eventually winning the race by a comfortable four points.

1. Le Col 29 pts
2. Team Sky 25 pts
3. Manchester City Council 21 pts
4. Maxgear Racing 21 pts
5. Chep UK 21 pts
6. Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta 10 pts

DHL FUTURE STARS BOYS POINTS RACE

In the second Future Stars Boys contest of the evening, Sam Lowe gained ground on series leader Matt Rotherham with a win in the points race. However, it was a tight affair, with maximum points going to three different riders in the first three sprints. With one to go, Sam Lowe, Ryan Mullan, Harry Tanfield and Oliver Wood were all on five points, with Rotherham on three. In the final charge for the line, Rotherham beat Lowe on the track, but the one point that Lowe scored was enough to put him a nose ahead of his rival.

1. Sam Lowe 6 pts
2. Matt Cross 5 pts
3. Matt Rotherham 5 pts
4. Oliver Wood 5 pts

AUSTRALIAN PURSUIT

Undoubtedly the most interesting event of the night, the Australian Pursuit saw eight riders stationed around the track at equal distances. The rules were surprisingly simple. If you caught the rider in front, they were eliminated. This continued until just two riders were left, who battled it out until 12 laps were completed and the riders got back to their starting positions on the track. Russell Downing of Team Sky set about his task with a voracious appetite, catch no less than three riders and reaching the final showdown with Maxgear's Leif Lampeter. However, Downing paid for his early exuberance, with Lampeter's more calculated early strategy giving him the advantage in the closing stages.

1. Leif Lampeter Maxgear
2. Russell Downing Team Sky

DHL FUTURE STARS SCRATCH RACE - GIRLS

Emily Kay scored her second win of the night, marking her rival Amy Roberts before making her way through the wheels when it counted to take the win and retain her overall DHL Future Stars lead into 2011.

1. Emily Kay
2. Jess Crampton
3. Amy Roberts

KEIRIN

The classy and powerful Teun Mulder took victory in a Keirin which was a tale of Dutch domination. Mulder's countryman Van Den Berg attacked when the Derny pulled off and Mulder followed in close quarters. Mulder powered around Van Den Berg, who was also swept up by the chasing duo of Ross Edgar and Dave Daniell.

1. Teun Mulder Le Col
2. Ross Edgar Team Sky
3. Dave Daniell Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta

DHL FUTURE STARS 6 LAP DASH - BOYS

The final Future Stars Boys event of the night was a microcosm of the overall contest - i.e. the Lowe and Rotherham show. However, in a sprint event like the dash, there was only going to be one winner - Rotherham. However, Matt had to work hard to overhaul a determined Lowe, who forced a photo finish, with the powerful Rotherham claiming victory and retaining the series lead by a slim 11cm!

1. Matt Rotherham
2. Sam Lowe
3. Zac May
4. Ryan Mullen

SCRATCH RACE - 10KM

The young Jon Mould took a fine victory in perhaps the most engaging of the night's endurance events, winning a scratch race of massive quality.

It was fun and games from the off, with Rapha's Dean Downing attacking early and rousing the crowd in typical style, stringing out the field and raising a cheer from the stands on each lap. Eventually he was swept up - his brother, Team Sky's Russell Downing starting the serious racing, stringing it out on the front and making going difficult for the pack, who'd suffered a punishing schedule of endurance racing.

Russell Downing's teammate Peter Kennaugh took over and put an evil dig in which split the field. Kennaugh and Dowsett then went clear and Sam Harrison bridged to join them, making a scary trio. Claudio Imhof, Tom Moses and Jon Mould then broke free, joined by Lampeter and rode it like a team pursuit to get on terms with the leading trio. Meanwhile Harrison, Kennaugh and Dowsett lapped the remainder of the field. Mould, Lampeter and Moses also made the junction, with instigator Imhof blown off the back. So with 15 laps remaining it was effectively a six man race between Dowsett, Kennaugh, Lampeter, Mould, Moses and Harrison.

The laps ticked away everyone together on the track, and the six riders who'd gained a lap tried to position themselves for the final charge to the line. In the end it was Mould who recovered best following the lap gain, the youngster getting the better of a world-class field of endurance riders.

TEAM SPRINT - GB VERSUS HOLLAND

Following the presentation of the overall series leaders Le Col, the crowd was treated to a fine display of team sprinting, with a face-off between GB and Holland. The Dutch were supplemented by Ross Edgar, replacing Hugo Haak who dropped out of the competition through illness. Perhaps, the last minute change of personnel affected the Dutch team's composure, as the GB trio of Dave Daniell, Pete Mitchell and up-and-coming sprinter Phillip Hindes took an easy victory by almost two seconds, rounding off an great night's racing at Revolution 31.

1. GB: Dave Daniell, Pete Mitchell, Phillip Hindes 45.771
2. Holland: Teun Mulder, Roy Van Den Berg, Ross Edgar 47.063

Live Slideshow of photos from the night