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Revolution 4 / Melbourne Cup on Wheels - NE
Melbourne, Australia, December 17, 2008
Ng creates history
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Malaysian rider, Josiah Ng caused an upset by winning the Melbourne Cup on Wheels in sensational fashion at Revolution 4 to become the first international winner in the event's 72-year history. Ng got the better of two-time Olympic gold medallist Graeme Brown, who finished second for the second year running. Young Victorian Michael Downing claimed third place.
The 28-year-old, a fifth place finisher in the keirin at the Athens Olympic Games behind Ryan Bayley, was ecstatic with his victory, leaping onto the dais to receive the coveted trophy.
"Anyone who is a cyclist would know all about this. This and the Austral are like the biggest events of the year for an Australian track meets. I can't believe it, unbelievable," Ng said. "This is one of my highlights. This will be second I admit. I made the Olympic final in '04 and that was the number one feeling in my life."
After a controversial final lap that led to words between Ng and Brown, the Malaysian wasn't fazed by the altercation between the two.
"I am most scared of Browny, because he races really aggressive. And how he races is how I raced him in the last lap. I think I picked it up from him," Ng said laughing. "He loves dishing it out, but he doesn't like to take it. But I have all the respect for him."
Brown, on the receiving end of his own erratic riding, was less than impressed with the line of Ng in the final lap.
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"He was maybe using a little bit more of the track than I would of thought was a) necessary and b) legal, but he tried to tell me I would have done the same thing," said Brown. "I nearly crashed a couple of times, but I know that a lot of other people say the same about me."
Defending champion and two-time Melbourne Cup on Wheels winner Leigh Howard missed the opportunity to join the legendary Sid Patterson as the only three-time occasions. Howard later returned to the track with dual junior world champion Glenn O'Shea in the Ridley 25km Madison to lower the colour of some of Australia's best.
The reigning Madison champions of Australia dominated from the outset finishing with 56 points, ahead of Brown and three time junior world champion Cameron Meyer with 44pts; Sean Finning and James Langedyk finished in third with 36pts.
Tour de France green jersey winners Robbie McEwen and Baden Cooke's transition from rivals to teammates didn't go as smoothly as planned. Confusion between the two in the Ridley Madison Kilo saw McEwen left wondering as his teammate missed the transition, more interested in the front row of the crowd as he cruised around at the top of the track.
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Pulling it together, they managed to finish mid field in the main event.
In other events, three-time world junior champion and reigning Jayco Bay Classic women's criterion champion Megan Dunn finished a successful night with two wins, taking out the women's Ridley scratch race and the Ridley points race in impressive fashion.
Following on from his impressive form at the recent UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Melbourne, Track World Cup sprint champion Shane Perkins blitzed the field in the 2XU Compression keirin having already taken out the Urban Revolution men's sprint.
Returning to the track after their first attempt at the San Benedetto women's keirin was called off due to a crash involving all but two riders, Kaarie McCulloch join Perkins with the keirin-sprint double.
In the face-off between the footy legends, Hawthorn premiership hero Jason Dunstall just shaded his arch rival St Kilda full-back Danny Frawley in an entertain battle that had the sell-out crowd of 5,000 on their feet.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Carl Brewer/www.aboc.com.au
- Leigh Howard was one of the stars of the night.
- Robbie McEwen and Baden Cooke: Robbie, sling me in over there, ok?
- Silence-Lotto rider Robbie McEwen gets ready to race with Baden Cooke (Barloworld).
- Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto) checks out his bike before riding.
- Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto) starts the kilo Madison.
- Opps! Sorry Baden! We were supposed to do a sling... Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto) missed partner Baden Cooke (Barloworld).
- When the sprints started Shane Perkins made short work of a courageous Fast Eddie Wilson.
- Even the youngsters warming up watched closely.
- The women's races were keenly contested and very lively.
- Then the boys line up, for the Future Starts scratch race.
- Ed Osbourne rode with grace.
- One lucky lad: The spokes chopped out, but he didn't meet the boards.
- The sprinters get back to watching each other...
- ...and watching some more, just for good measure.
- The motor paced race saw Graham Brown (Rabobank) entertain the crowd.
- Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto) never looked comfortable behind his derny.
- Graeme Brown (Rabobank) salutes the crowd.
- The Melbourne Cup on Wheels final gets underway with a big shove.
- And what a flyer it was from Malaysian rider Josiah Ng!
- Josiah Ng (Malaysia) was excited after winning the Melbourne Cup on Wheels.
- The Future Starts men's points race was closely contested.
Results
Elite men Madison Kilo TT Round 1 4 Patrick Drapac/Thomas Palmer 4 pts Round 2 3 T Wilksch/ Sclarke 6 pts 5 H Clarke/ T Clarke 2 Round 3 6 S Finning/ J Langedyk 8 M Docker/G Henderson Round 4 7 B Aitken/ Nick Sanderson 1 L Howard/ G Oshea 10 pts Round 5 2 G Brown/ Cameron Meyer 8 pts R McEwen/B Cooke Elite men sprint round one heats Heat 1 1 Shane Perkins 2 Eddie Wilson Heat 2 1 Azizulhasni Awang 2 Adrian Sansonetti Heat 3 1 Jason Niblett 2 Steven Sansonetti Heat 4 1 Scott Sunderland Ben Sanders Rizal Tising Heat 5 J Nasir Heat 6 D Ellis J Leonard Elite women Scratch Race 1 M Dunn 2 T Downing 3 C Higgins Future Stars Double kilo Dash 1 T Manus 2 J Marans 3 J Vicino 4 J Gardiner 5 unknown 6 J Cummins 7 unknown 8 L Parker 9 unknown 10 J Toyne 11 A Meyland 12 R Bell 13 unknown 14 unknown 15 unknown Future Stars Double Kilo Dash 1 K Mackie 2 C Barron 3 N East 4 A Abbisogni 5 A Sylvester Elite women Sprint Heats Heat 1 1 K McCulloch 2 J Cummings 3 M Feltham Heat 2 1 F Mustapa 2 N Hansen 3 A Eppinger Elite men sprint second round Heat 1 1 S Perkins 2 D Ellis Heat 2 1 A Awang 2 J Nasir Heat 3 1 J Niblett 2 S Sunderland Elite men Stayers Race 1 G Brown 2 B Cooke 3 R McEwen Elite women sprint 1 K McCulloch 2 F Mustapa Elite Men St Kilda Mc Cow 1 J Ng 2 G Browne 3 M Downing 4 B Sanders Future Stars Elimination 1 K Macke 2 C Barron 3 A Abbisogni 4 N Langedyk 5 A Fresle 6 L Custance Pulled DNF N East DNF M Hegert DNF S Hansen DNF C Ward DNF Ebony Clarke DNF A Sylvester DNF L Hanson Elite men Revolution Sprint 1 S Perkins 2 A Awang 3 J Niblett Future Stars Points Race 1 J Cummings 2 J Vicino 3 E Hull 4 J Law 5 G Tansley 6 T McManus 7 Robert Bell 8 Jesse Marans Points Race Elite Women 1 M Dunn 2 B Goss 3 P Mullens 4 Rochelle Gilmore 5 L Friend 6 Tiffany Cromwell 7 Liz Georgouras 8 Tess Downing Elite men Keirin Heats Heat 1 1 Shane Perkins 2 Daniel Ellis 3 Ben Sanders Heat 2 1 A Sansonetti 2 A Awang 3 E Wilson Heat 3 1 J Leonard 2 S Sunderland 3 J Niblett Elite men 25km Madison 1 L Howard/G O'Shea 2 G Browne/C Meyer 3 S Finning/J Langedyk 4 B Aitken/N Sanderson 5 R McEwen/B Cooke 6 M Docker/ G Henderson 7 S Clarke/ T Wilsch 8 H Clarke/ T Clarke Elite Women Keirin 1 K McCulloch 2 F Mustapa 3 C Higgins Elite Men Keirin 1 S Perkins 2 A Awang 3 S Sunderland
