Peter Kennaugh and Mark Christian were crowned national Madison champions on Saturday night at Manchester velodrome.
The pair from the Isle of Man clinched the national title only after a heated debate regarding the positioning of riders when Kennaugh's younger brother, Tim, and his Manx Road Club partner George Atkins were provisionally announced as race winners.
HOW IT HAPPENED Peter Kennaugh was originally down to be paired with Rob Hayles at the event after winning it last year with Mark Cavendish, currently taking part in the Tour of California. A last minute change meant he instead rode with Christian.
The race of nearly 200 laps was initially taken at a leisurely pace before the pairings of Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe (Wales), Alex Dowsett and Andrew Fenn (100% Me) along with Kennaugh and Christian (Team Isle of Man) picked up the pace. They mopped up the main points in the early sprint laps before moving a lap in front of the field.
The field was split and tracking the teams for position was a difficult task. It resulted in the pairing of Tim Kennaugh and Atkins being mistakenly given a lap with the main protagonist.
The race reached fever pitch as Tim Kennaugh and Atkins seemingly gained another lap. They held on for the final score board to read that they had provisionally taken the championship with Kennaugh and Christian, and Thomas and Lowe in the other podium placings.
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After lengthy deliberations it seemed that the result would stand but the riders discussed the situation amongst themselves and realised the mistake and commissaries were duly informed of the situation.
Finally the correct result was announced and presentations made for Peter Kennaugh to retain his Madison title with his new Manx partner, Mark Christian.
National Madison Champs podium
END OF THE REVOLUTION The final Revolution of the 2008/09 season got under way at 7pm at Manchester velodrome and continued with the Madison theme.
Newly-crowned Peter Kennaugh was partnered by his regular World Cup partner Rob Hayles for the rest of the evening. It was the pairing of Geraint Thomas (Barloworld) and Bradley Wiggins (Garmin) that took the opening Devil-Scratch event.
Bradley Wiggins in full flight
Iwan Thomas the GB 400m runner made a guest appearance in the 200m TT event which was eventually won by Matt Crampton.
The season long DHL Future Stars events were brought to a close with girls star Ruby Miller and boys star Simon Yates taking overall honours. Daley Thompson, the Olympic Decathlete, was on hand to present the awards.
David Daniell took the sprint title on the night beating Matt Crampton in the final after showing some fine sprinting in the earlier rounds against some of the guesting French riders of Tournant, Pervis, Bauge and D'Almeida.
Revolution 24 marked a couple of retirements too. Gordon Harling the Technical Director at the Revolutions retired from his post and was presented with a pen set from Series Director Jarl Walsh.
It was then the turn of Arnaund Tournant to mark his career closure in time honoured style, rolling through the spinning wheels of the Revolution riders competing on the night. Hugh Porter came down from his commentary position to interview Tournant who was fittingly joined by Sir Chris Hoy. The duo have had many battles over the years and Chris spoke eloquently in wishing Tournant all the best in his retirement from racing as he takes up his sports director role with the Cofidis track team.
Sir Chris was still suffering from the crash he sustained in the Copenhagen World Cup event and said that his damaged hip would be drained at the beginning of the coming week. The injury will then be re-accessed with the hope that some light work on the bike will be achievable later in the week.
The final event of the evening was the team sprint made up of Staff, Edgar and Kenny. Kenny had earlier crashed heavily during the Madison 1km TT as he made the change with David Daniell but was able to take up the role of last man.
The French team of Bauge, Pervis and D'Almeida were beaten by the GB trio and showed the strength in depth the GB team has as they look to the World Championships in Poland at the end of March.
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