South Australian Luke Wight denied Isaac Buckell a hometown win in Sunday night's Lindsay Harrington Memorial Wheelrace at the Tom Flood Sports Centre.
Wight won the Christmas Carnival feature event for a third time when he overpowered Buckell in the concluding stages of a thrilling final.
Backmarkers Wight and Buckell were the beneficiaries of some hard work in the first four laps from Bendigo's Jarrod Moroni (20m).
Moroni cut the gap to the frontmarkers before Buckell launched an attack with one lap remaining.
He raced to the front and looked set to win the race before Wight produced a well-timed sprint to edge out Buckell.
Promising Bendigo youngster Jackson Hadden (20m) rode a superb race to finish third.
"It's good to come here and win it for a third time,'' Wight, who also finished fourth in last year's final, said.
"With one lap to go it all bunched up, Isaac went around the group and I manged to hold his wheel and then come around him at the end."
Buckell gained some revenge in the final event of the carnival when he won the Victorian 10 Mile Motor Paced Championship.
Hometown favourite Peta Mullens scored an impressive victory in Sunday night's 1600m Women's Wheelrace.
Racing off scratch, the former national road champion showed she's still got plenty of speed in her legs with a strong win over fellow backmarker Ella Sibley and Rebel Brooker (50m).
One of the highlights of Saturday night's racing was the Christmas Madison.
Bendigo siblings Isaac and Sam Buckell proved too strong, scoring 41 points to defeat Jarrod Moroni and Peta Mullens on 25 points and Josh Clarke and Hall on 15 points.
Read more: Junior riders sizzle at Christmas Carnival
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