Gavin Rowbottam wins race, CSC Team O’Grady’s Gill set’s new record.
Full results, report & photos.
Report
Strong fields, perfect weather and exciting racing was the theme for the weekend of Cycle Sport Victoria racing and the Hamilton Cycling Club kicked off activities with the Cecil Shore Memorial, Hamilton 120 handicap. Approximately 100 riders were spread over 6 groups with limit markers starting 30 minutes prior to the scratch markers.
For those that don’t know the Cecil Shore course, riders head out of Hamilton in a northerly direction on a reasonably flat 25 kilometre section to the small town of Cavendish, a hot dog turn sends the riders back to Hamilton and through the town on their way South for 35 kilometres to Macarthur.
Generally, the last 30 kilometres from Macarthur back to Hamilton is were the race is won or lost, the 2007 edition was no exception to this scenario. The six groups had merged into three and shortly after turning at Macarthur that was reduced to two groups. It was at this point that something weird occurred that dramatically effected the outcome of the race. The scratch riders believed that they had swept up the remaining lead groups. Unbeknown to them, seven riders were around five minutes up the road. All momentum that the chasers had was lost as attacks occurred.
It came as quite a shock to the chasers when the commissaries advised that the gap to the leaders at 15 kilometres to go was four minutes and 38 seconds. Attempts to re-organise were clumsy and too many of the 40 odd riders in the group were content to sit in the comfort of the bunch rather than go for the win.
Up front the seven riders held onto one minute and 15 seconds with three kilometres to go, this buffer allowed for the slightest of jockeying and preparation for an unlikely limit marker victory. In the finale it was popular Footscray rider, Gavin Rowbottam who took the biggest victory of his career in front of Hamilton local, Gary Pollock.
A frustratingly short space of time later, the trio of Russel Gill (Team O’Grady), Zak Dempster (SA.com) and Brendon Schultz (Hamilton) pulled clear in the battle for fastest time. Young South Australian prospect, Gill was first over the line, making the long trip from Adelaide worthwhile.
Photos
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| Photos Fiona Carnibella | pix1.awardspace.com | Click photos to enlarge |
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