Hoy reigns supreme in Revolution sprint special

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The Revolution once again filled the Manchester Velodrome on October 23 for Revolution 29. October means the start of more top track action, and the first event attracted evergreen Scotsman Sir Chris Hoy, who proved he was back on top after dominant performances throughout the evening.

Revolution 29 was also track legend Chris Newton's last competitive track event. It seemed fitting then that the new GB Academy Coach powered through to an impressive victory in the motor-paced scratch race, welcomed by a standing ovation from the sell-out Revolution crowd. He beat fellow endurance specialists Steven Burke and Luke Rowe, two riders who have already benefited from the Great Britain U23 Academy.

Sprinting was the focus of Revolution 29 and spectators were treated to a varied sprint programme throughout the evening. The main sprint event, the championship sprint, saw exciting heats between some of British Cycling's hottest young prospects up against sprint veterans Hoy and Ross Edgar.

After the early heats, Hoy beat Jason Kenny in the semi-final, while David Daniell came top against Matt Crampton in the other heat. That meant a battle of young and old in the final, with 20-year-old Daniell putting up a good fight against Olympic hero Hoy. Despite his best efforts, Hoy proved too much for the youngster and took the win. Matt Crampton won the losers' six-lap dash thereafter.

The DHL Future Stars races has previously seen elite stars like Steven Burke and Team Sky's Peter Kennaugh in its ranks and there have been strong indications that Season eight's line up has some serious potential.

In the boy's events, Matt Cross won the points race with six points, beating Harry Tanfield (six points) due to a higher placing in the final sprint. Tanfield was unlucky again, getting third in the six-lap dash; Matt Rotherham edged ahead of James Berryman to take the win. Sam Lowe, who attacked early on in the six-lap dash, was rewarded with a win in the 5km scratch race in a bunch sprint from Chris Latham and Alex Minting.

The girl's competition kicked off with the 5km scratch race. Jess Crampton was successful in the bunch sprint and edged ahead of Lucy Garner and Rebecca Hunt. The points race saw Emily Kay, who was far back in the scratch race, rise back to the top taking the lead with eight points. Kay didn't stop there, proving too strong in the six-lap dash. Kay will once again be the one to watch in the girl's competition after winning the title last year.

The Revolution crowd was treated to more elite action with the popular Revolution event, the 1km Madison time trial. Dan McLay was paired with Team Sky's new addition Alex Dowsett and the young duo produced an impressive 58.016, but that was no match for Motorpoint Marshall's Pasta Olympic duo of Steven Burke and Ed Clancy, who took the win with 56.316.

It was a good evening for Ed Clancy in the 15km points race, too. Likely suspects Luke Rowe and Alex Dowsett were active throughout and did enough to seal second and third spots. Clancy took five points in the first and third sprints, with 13 points ahead of Rowe's 10, he knew he had to figure well in the final sprint. And in a perfect display of tactics, Clancy took the final sprint, keeping his two race rivals at bay and enabling his teammate, the impressive Andy Tennant, to place fourth.

If anyone wanted to see a prime example of closing a gap in sprinting, they couldn't have done much better than watch the Revolution Keirin. As the derny peeled off with two-and-a-half laps to go, Jason Kenny looked like he had got one up on his sprint rivals, but Chris Hoy pulled out everything he had to pip past Kenny on the line for a truly emphatic victory. It's fair to say the crowd went wild for the popular Scot, and quite rightly so, it was a huge gap in sprinting terms to chase down.

Clancy used Revolution 29 to prove that he is one of the most prolific endurance riders on the scene at the moment. With his eye on the Omnium competition in 2012, these consistent performances must surely bode well for British fans hoping for success at the London Games.

An impressive solo TT effort by Alex Dowsett wasn't enough and was caught before a new break of Ed Clancy and Luke Rowe formed shortly thereafter as they were joined by Martin Irvine. Despite Dowsett's earlier efforts, he found the energy to help attempt to pull back the breakaway but Clancy saw the danger and as they were about to be reeled in he attacked again in the final 200m to take another win in a Revolution endurance event.

The final and most anticipated event of Revolution 29 was the England versus Scotland team sprint event, which saw the best sprinters of the night battle it out for their respective countries. It was a clash of the Scots' experience versus the energy of the young English team.

Hoy, Edgar and Chris Pritchard looked good out of the gates, while the English trio of Kenny, Crampton and Daniell were slightly less organised. It was close but the English came out on top, proving that there is a great new breed of young sprinters coming through the Great Britain squad ahead of the big season of major championships.

The Championship Format continues within the Revolution series, allowing for spectators to support their favourite riders within the Revolution's trade teams. Leading the competition after the first event is Team Sky who took the full 10 league points ahead of Maxgear Racing in second and Le Col in third.

Results