Bryant, now riding with Sydney Uni Velo Club, claimed one point in the final race to ensure he couldn’t be passed by the fast-finishing Ensor, who claimed two wins and a third in his final three races, but Ensor was handed the title on countback. 

That made up the margin after Bryant won the first race – the head starter. 

Ensor then claimed the elimination before Bryant won the Keirin, setting with Win and Out up as the decider, with Byrant four points ahead.

He claimed fifth in the race to ensure Ensor couldn’t overtake him, but the Dubbo sprinter did all he could to take equal top spot ahead of his stablemate Trent Hines. 

The women’s finished in equally thrilling fashion as Bathurst’s Kalinda Robinson won in the final race to overtake teammate Eliza Bennett to claim the title by one point. 

The pair were shoulder to shoulder heading down the final straight, with Robinson just edging her partner out to claim first. 

Bennett had 13 points heading into the final stanza, ahead of Robinson’s 11, but the Win and Out proved the latter’s strong point in blistering heat at the Moulder Park velodrome. 

Following on from his win of the under 15 National Junior Track Series, Ben Anderson claimed a clean sweep of his home event, winning all four events in the under 15 section ahead of Hines and Orange’s Xavier Bland. Will Karrasch was the other Orange cyclist to sit atop the podium in first.

Orange Cycle Club president Mitch Bland said “the day went off like a frog in a sock” despite the heat.

“It was hot but with plenty of water and sunscreen the first-aid bags were untouched,” he said.

The returns of Anderson and Bryant were welcome, too – the latter mixing with cyclists he hadn’t seen in some time and providing strong competition on track, while Anderson was a "class act” on the day.

“Benji is a phenomenal cyclist but he kept the races interesting and didn’t blow it out of the water and was giving a lot of encouragement to the other riders,” Bland said.