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38th Bendigo Madison - IM

Australia, March 7-9, 2008

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Race 3 - March 9: Bendigo Madison, 200 laps

New National Champions take dominate win

By Nathan Dole

Glen O'Shea (l) and Leigh Howard (VIS/Jayco)
Photo ©: Shane Goss
(Click for larger image)

Australian Madison champions Glenn O'Shea and Leigh Howard dominated the Bendigo International Madison cycling classic. The young guns from the Jayco- VIS squad were in hot form throughout the 200-lap contest on the Tom Flood Sports Centre track. Just eight days after they teamed to win the Australian Madison in Melbourne, O'Shea, of Eaglehawk, and Howard, of Geelong, were relentless in their pursuit of victory in the McCaig Air conditioning- backed race.

The 18-year-old tyros blitzed the 32 intermediate sprints against a field that included stars from Argentina, Canada, Netherlands, USA and across Australia. At one stage the eventual Madison champions had won 10 of 20 sprints as they raced toward a final tally of 83 points. Runners-up were defending champions, Nic Sanderson and Miles Olman, on 53 points, as the Meyer brothers, Cameron and Travis, fought on to rack up 47 points. But it was to be O'Shea and Howard who etched their names on to the Bendigo International Madison honour board. They were in superb form in Australia's gold rush at last year's junior world titles in Mexico and have continued to star on tracks across the country.

For O'Shea, last night's victory was the realisation of a dream and goal he had pursued since he first raced on Bendigo's track when he was eight. "This is the pinnacle," O'Shea said. "It's an amazing feeling to have won this race, and to have raced so well with Leigh." Howard declared they had been looking forward to racing at Bendigo for many months. "Glenn has been so keyed up about racing well in the Madison and winning," said Howard.

"To win such a prestigious race is a huge honour." In a hectic start, the Meyer brothers instigated the first of many attacks in a bid to gain a lap. Try as they might, they and several other line-ups could not do so as the race rolled on. Howard and O'Shea won six sprints in the opening 70 laps and never let up. Even when not first in a sprint, the national champions were usually able to gain some points. O'Shea's brilliance was matched by his team-mate. At race end, O'Shea declared the effort of the opening 100 laps had taken its toll. "I was feeling a bit sick at 100 to go, so Leigh really helped me along.

"By 40 to go I was feeling fine again." Although they were well clear on points, O'Shea and Howard were wary of the attacks in the last 30 laps. There were many outstanding performances in the Madison, especially by Travis Meyer, who crashed in Saturday night's heat of the Golden Mile; as well as the Argentinean duo of Sebastian Donadio and Juan Gaspari; and Canada's Svein Tuft and Queensland's Hayden Josefski who were put together after Zach Bell's crash on Saturday night.

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com

Results

1 Glenn O'Shea (BGO) / Leigh Howard (Victorian Institute of Sport)          83 pts
2 Miles Olman (Q) / Nic Sanderson                                           53
3 Cameron Meyer (WA) / Travis Meyer (WA) Baldwin Filters                    47

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