Wellington's George Jackson, at 17 years of age, has put his named up alongside Olympic medallists like Simon van Velthooven and his national contemporaries like Jordan Castle after a strong finish saw him win the 69th River City Wheel Race on Saturday.
As a slight blustery wind kept the prospectof showers away from the velodrome to allow organisers to complete the rescheduled event, following the rain out in February, Jackson started the 14-rider final as one of four scratch riders in the six lap handicap.
Himself, Dan Waluszewski, Jakob Lester, and Brendon Sharratt were going to have a lot of work to do to make their way through the field, when one considers a masters rider like Laurie Mildenhall started as lead rider with five laps and 10m to cover.
Women's riders Samara Fenn and Libby Arbuckle were also quickly into their work as the race started, but it was clear that the scratch riders were not going to make the error of some predecessors and raced as a unit, taking half a lap each before moving up the track and back into the draft.
Ahead of them, the rest of the pack, some 12 riders, quickly came together as a single group, which has not happened in recent Wheel Races where usually packs of 3-4 riders form.
Working very well, Sharratt, Lester and Jackson had already caught up by the fourth lap, and began to work their way through the field as the handicap was gone and a straight scratch race ensued.
With Mildenhall finally dropping back, it was Hubertus Buyck, John Stewart and Richard Horne who were leading at the final lap bell, but Lester and Jackson were coming on strong.
Rounding the final turn, tiring Stewart had the lead and the inside line with Lester also ranging outside him, as Jackson began to pour it on but seemed to be running out of track with no daylight to work with.
Late in the straight, the young rider from the capital got just a bit of elbow room in between the two leaders and that was all he needed - going up and above Stewart and holding off Lester to just scrape the finishing line first by a few wheel spokes.
The leading bunch round the final turn for home.
While the announcers called it a "perfectly timed run", Jackson admitted he was lucky the sea had spread.
"I thought there was no way through, I was pretty boxed in.
"It opened up and I got through it, [with] good enough sprint to take it out."
Lester, who had won multiple medals at the recent West Coast North Island Championships on the same velodrome, would still have fonder memories of this Wheel Race event than last year when he had a heavy crash early in the day.
Jackson has also attended previous Wheel Races and had quickly formed an understanding with his fellow scratch men that none of them could win without co-operation from the off.
"We just knew what we had to do, we just had to shut them down straight away.
"There was just one big bunch to chase down."
The teenager is believed to be one of the youngest-ever winners of the Wheel Race, stretching back to 1948.
Jackson will now prepare for the age group nationals in two weeks.
He had tasted success earlier in the 20-discipline event by winning the Open Points Race from Sharratt and Waluszewki.
Lester got momentum at the start of the evening with victory in the Open Elimination race, with Jackson runnerup and Stewart third.
The final of the Invitation Sprint was an interesting clash of mentor vs student as Southland's Lee Evans was able to best his pupil Daniel Shepherd.
The sprint is always a duel where the winner must watch his opponent and time his run perfectly, and Evans showed the advantage of experience by staying high and then diving down at the final bell to power away for the win.
Another rider of note was Open Women's competitor Megan Gardner having a heavy spill but just putting the bandages on and continuing on in her other races.
The two Wheel Race qualifying runs saw seven riders from each progress through to the final.
