December 21, 2007 – Canadians Gina Grain, Zach Bell and Julia Bradley are currently doing some track racing in Australia, preparing for UCI Track World Cup #3 in Los Angeles in January.

If Stuart O’Grady is the current super-star of Australian cycling then Geelong teenager Leigh Howard is clearly the future face of the sport, after producing a stunning win in the Melbourne Cup on Wheels at Vodafone Arena in Melbourne tonight.

The 18-year-old auto electrician managed to haul in Athens Olympic gold medallist Graeme Brown in the final lap of a star-studded final of one of Australia’s most revered handicap events to claim his second win in the event.

It capped off a winning double for the rising star after also holding off Brown to win the scratch race earlier in the evening.

In the feature race of a drama-filled night played out in front of a sell-out crowd of 5000 fans, Stuart O’Grady produced a gutsy performance to lead for the last ten laps of the Champions Race.

The Olympic champion, who claims to be only 70 percent fit as he still recovers from a nasty spill at this year’s Tour de France, displayed why he is still regarded as one of the world’s best track racers, maintaining his front position to the line in the “˜Derny’ race where all six competitors had their own individual motor pace for the 30-lap affair.

“There was a lot of noise from the crowd and a lot of noise from my heart,” an exhausted O’Grady said after completing two laps of honour to celebrate the win.
“I looked up at the line and saw we had 14 laps to go and I wish I hadn’t looked. I was on the limit for the last 15 to 16 laps and I tried to break it down – eight laps to go, that’s two kays. It was tough,” O’Grady said.

In the Melbourne Cup on Wheels final, Howard was the 3-1 favourite with the punters and started from the scratch mark alongside Brown and Sydney Olympic Games gold medallist Brett Aitken.

Despite the quality opposition the teenager displayed all the maturity and talent of his much more experienced rivals to claim victory in the 71st edition of the event.

Following his first win as a 16-year-old in 2005, Howard now sits alongside some of the greats in Australian track cycling, by becoming just the fifth rider to win two titles and the fifth to win from the scratch mark. The last man to score a winning double was 1984 Olympic gold medallist Dean Woods who claimed the 1983 and 1989 titles and Howard will return next year aiming to join the legendary Sid Paterson (1961-63) as the only man to have won three Melbourne Cup’s.

“It was fantastic to come around Graeme Brown on the last lap, it’s not a bad effort to do that to an Olympic champion,” an elated Howard said after the race.
“I trained with him and the (Australian) track squad before the Sydney World Cup and they are all top blokes. Browny is an Olympic champion, world champion and world record holder,” Howard said.

Despite having already won two world junior titles on the track, Howard is not yet ready to elevate himself into the company of Brown and his idol Stuart O’Grady.

“They are great mentors; they know the whole scene backwards. Stuey is an icon for me and what he has done is phenomenal.”

“I’m probably not looking at Beijing, more like London. It’s a pretty tough ask when you look at the quality we have and the Olympics are next year.”

Earlier in the evening, the program was delayed for more than 15 minutes following a spectacular crash in the “˜Future Stars’ under 18 2000m dash. With 150m remaining a fallen rider caused a domino effect on the field, bringing down 13 riders in the 17-strong field. Bendigo teenager Toby Dite, 17, miraculously escaped serious injury after cart wheeling out of control along the perimeter fence for nearly ten metres. Half a dozen riders were treated for cuts and abrasions, but all walked away from the incident.

The capacity crowd held their breath as one by one the riders rose to their feet. Crass spun 360-degrees on a number of occasions across the fence lining the track but miraculously escaped without any injuries.

In other events, dual Olympic champion won the men’s sprint final in impressive style and Victorian Shane Perkins claimed the men’s keirin final. Anna Meares won the women’s sprint and sister Kerrie captured the women’s keirin. Kate Cullen took out the women’s scratch race, Graeme Brown returned to easily win the elimination race and then took out the final event of the night to win the points race.

Results

The Shape Group Revolution Men’s Keirin
Heat 1
1. Mark French
2. Shane Kelly
2. Jason Niblett

Heat 2
1. Shane Perkins
2. Ryan Bayley
3. Scott Sunderland

The Swanston Hotel Revolution Scratch Race
1. Leigh Howard
2. Graeme Brown
3. Brett Aitken
4. Todd Wilksch
5. Allan Davis
6. Zach Bell (Can)

Nab Revolution Points Race Elite Women
1. Louise Moriarty 13 points
2. Tess Downing 11
3. Gina Grain (Can) 10
4. Jessica Berry 10

2Xu Future Stars Double Kilo Dash – Males
1. Trevor Griffiths
2. Dale Parker
3. Angus Tobin
4. Gavin Sittampalam
5. Lachlan Ritchie

2Xu Future Stars Double Kilo Dash – Females
1. Carly Mccoombe
2. Laine Hammond
3. Shannon Mccurley
4. Kendelle Hodges
5. Veronica Dudderidge
6. Amy Cure
7. Stephanie Hansen
8. Sarah Cure
9. Maelle Howarth
10. Chloe Mcintosh
11. Julie Warren
12. Marquessa Jelbart
13. Angela Mcclure

The Shape Revolution Keirin Men’s Final
1. Shane Perkins
2. Shane Kelly
3. Mark French
4. Jason Niblett
5. Ryan Bayley
6. Scott Sunderland

Nab Revolution Keirin Women’s Final
Heat 1
1. Anna Meares
2. Apryl Eppinger

Heat 2
1. Kerrie Meares
2. Josephine Butler

Heat 3
1. Jess Varnish
2. Kaarle Mcculloch
3. Liz Georgouras

Revolution Champions Race Selected
1. Stuart O’Grady
2. Hilton Clarke
3. Allan Davis
4. Matthew Wilson

The Swanston Hotel – Melbourne Cup On Wheels
1. Leigh Howard
2. Graeme Brown
3. Zach Bell (Can)
4. Zach Dempster
5. Adrian Sansonetti

2Xu Future Stars Motor Pace- M18
1. Trevor Griffiths
2. Aaron Box
3. Chris Jehu
4. Angus Tobin
5. Brodie Pearse
6. Lewis Fulcher
7. Dale Parker
8. Maddison Hammond
9. Patrick Lane
10. Oliver Le Grice
11. Gavin Sittampalam

2Xu Future Starts Motor Pace W18
1. Shannon Mccurley
2. Carly Mccoombe
3. Laine Hammond
4. Amy Cure
5. Veronica Dudderidge
6. Sarah Cure
7. Stephanie Hansen
8. Kendelle Hodges
9. Chloe Mcintosh
10. Netasha Pearse

Nab Revolution Women’s Sprint Final
1. Anna Meares
2. Kerrie Meares
3. Jess Varnish

Bicycle Superstore Revolution Men’s Sprint
Heat 1
1. Ryan Bayley
2. Byron Davis

Heat 2
1. Jason Niblett
2. Scott Sunderland

Heat 3
1. Shane Kelly
2. Marco Bortzi
3. Daniel Ellis

Heat 4
1. Shane Perkins
2. Joel Leonard
3. Mark French

Hlb Mann Judd Revolution Men’s Elimination Race
1. Graeme Brown
2. Allan Davis
3. Glenn O’Shea
4. Hilton Clarke

Nab Revolution Women’s Scratch Race
1. Kate Cullen
2. Liz Georgouras
3. Rochelle Gilmore
4. Gina Grain (Can)
5. Jessica Berry
6. Sky Lee Armstrong
7. Josphine Tomic
8. Louise Moriarty
9. Peta Mullens

Bicycle Superstore Revolution Men’s Sprint – 2nd Round
Heat 1
1. Ryan Bayley
2. Shane Kelly

Heat 2
1. Jason Niblett
2. Shane Perkins

Nab Revolution Keirin Women’s Final
1. Kerrie Meares
2. Kaarle Mcculloch
3. Liz Georgouras
4. Josphine Butler
5. Apryl Eppinger
6. Jess Varnish

2Xu Future Stars Scratch M18
1. Trevor Griffiths
2. Lewis Fulcher
3. Chris Jehu
4. Dale Parker
5. Oliver Le Grice
6. Angus Tobin
7. Gavin Sittampalam
8. Maddison Hammond

2Xu Future Stars Scratch W18
1. Laine Hammond
2. Netasha Pearse
3. Shannon Mccurley
4. Carly Mccoombe
5. Marquessa Jelbart
6. Amy Cure
7. Kendelle Hodges
8. Stephanie Hansen
9. Veronica Dudderidge
10. Angela Mcclure
11. Chloe Mcintosh
12. Maelle Howarth
13. Julie Warren
14. Sarah Cure

Bicycle Superstore Revolution Men’s Sprint
1. Ryan Bayley
2. Jason Niblett

Bicycle Superstore Revolution Sprint Men’s Final
1. Graeme Brown 20 points
2. Cameron Meyer 11
3. Alan Davis 10
4. Zak Dempster 8
5. Leigh Howard 6
6. Glen O’s hea 4
7. Hilton Clarke 2
8. Zach Bell (Can) 2
9. Darren Young 2