Cameron makes history with a second victory

Sixteen year old Cameron McIntyre last week claimed an unprecedented second win in the Gilchrist Cup series and could yet complete a hat-trick, with round three still to come.
By The Newsroom
Published 12th Jun 2014, 09:59 BST

Having won stage one of the prestigious tournament, Cameron followed it up with another victory, this timeon the popular Gilford circuit last Wednesday evening, to put himself firmly into the lead.

With dry though blustery weather in prospect, a total of 27 riders signed on for the five lap race totalling approximately 25 miles.

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The limit group, containing five riders including debutant road racer Paul Hannigan and veteran Leslie Creighton, started three minutes in front of a three man group of Marty Fitzpatrick, Stephan Teggart and Jonathan Bullock.

Four minutes later a large group of twelve forming group three followed off the line with some strong riders amongst them including Phil Beattie, Ian Cochrane, Aidrian Finnegan, Chris Burns, Nathan Sturrock, time trial specialist Kevin Wilson and winner Cameron McIntyre.

The scratch group started four minutes adrift of group three with seven riders including Dan Purdy, Kevin McAlinden, Matty Teggart, James Curry, Gareth Hillen and guest rider Rodney Stewart from TVR. All were well aware that a hard chase lay ahead of them.

By the third lap, a well drilled group three had swept up all riders ahead of them but the scratch group, having lost two riders to punctures, were now losing a few seconds per lap to this much larger and well organised group ahead of them.

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By the start of the final lap, it was apparent to spectators that group three were not going to be caught. All of the riders had been contributing to the effort but with less than a mile to go, Nathan Sturrock and Cameron McIntyre broke from the back of the group on the downhill section to the canal bridge and gained fifty metres before the rest of the riders could react.

A furious chase ensued with Kevin Wilson, Chris Burns and Adrian Finnegan leading Masters riders Ian Cochrane, Paul McGuckin and Phil Beattie in hot pursuit towards the last corner 500 metres from the finish.

The chasers made up some of the ground but a very lively Cameron was able to distance Nathan by three or four bike lengths at the line while Paul McGuckin narrowly took third place from Phil Beattie in a secondary sprint to the line. Neil McAllister and Kevin Wilson completed the top six placings.

With one more race in the series, on the Quarry Road circuit, Cameron is now clear favourite to lift this prestigious trophy.

Once again, riders’ thanks to club members who turned up for timekeeping and marshalling duties enabling the event to take place.