Law and Goss take scratch race gold

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Fourteen months ago Woollongong teenager, Scott Law, was lying on the road with a shattered knee after being knocked off his bike by a car. Today he was on top of the world as he capped off a long and painful recovery with a gold medal in the men's 15 kilometre scratch race at the Australian Track Championships at Adelaide's Super-Drome.

Several surgeries and seven months of rehabilitation later, Law was back in the saddle last July and on Saturday night the 18-year-old, in his first Championships as a senior, out-sprinted a field that included World and Commonwealth Games champions.

"I was on a training ride and a car pulled out in front of me and I shattered my right patella (kneecap) in about five places. It's been a long journey back with a lot of rehab and a lot of hard training but it's definitely well worth it," said Law. "This day is incredible."

Surgeons put wires through his kneecap to pull it back together and then it was a case of waiting for the calcification process to knit the kneecap back together.

Law rode the race to suit his strengths letting the likes of Beijing Olympian Jack Bobridge, junior World Champion Luke Durbridge and Commonwealth Games points race champion Sean Finning make the pace with numerous attacks and counter attacks in a fast paced and hard fought battle.

"In the first eight laps of the race I was thinking 'my God am I going to hang onto this thing', but I just tried to hang in there, hang in there and I did," explained Law. "There was a lot mental process during the race and I was trying to really give it to myself and knew I just had to hurt and hurt and then get as much recovery as I could when I could so I could get to the finish and get a medal."

Law, who represented Australia as a first year junior at the 2007 Junior World Championships in Cape Town, South Africa, says there was never a doubt in his mind that he would get back on his bike.

"The day after the accident I wanted to get riding again because I just have so much passion for the sport and I just want to succeed as much as I possibly can and do as well as I can and progress higher and higher and higher to the top level."

Law won the title ahead of Michael Freiberg (WA) with Tasmania's Peter Loft claiming bronze.

Law's 17-year-old brother Jackson is also competing this week and was tonight presented with a silver medal in a delayed (due to appeals) presentation ceremony for the under 19 men's scratch race. Their young cousin Madison Law is also racing in Adelaide in the under 19 women's sprint events.

Sunderland sprints to Keirin win

Scott Sunderland has snatched the gold medal in the men's Keirin with a flying attack a lap from home at the Australian Track Championships at Adelaide's Super-Drome.

Sunderland caught his rivals napping and, using his kilometre time trial strength, held them off for a comfortable win ahead of Canberra's Dan Ellis. Andrew Taylor of New South Wales crossed for third place.

"I'm very happy with that," said Sunderland. "When I saw Nibbo (Jason Niblett) coming around I jumped onto his wheel and then a lap and half from home I thought 'I'd better go now'.

"I put my head down and came around him leading into the bell and the rest is history," said Sunderland, who avoided some jostling amongst the others in the field. "I don't know what happened behind me I was out in front and in the clear.

"I have a good kilo on me so I can go from a long way out," he explained. "With that quality field it was risky going that far out in case someone came over me but luckily I had the legs at the end of the day and came home strong."

Goss gets another gold

Tasmania's Belinda Goss rode the perfect final sprint to claim the gold medal in the women's 10 kilometre scratch race. The 26-year-old used silver medallist Megan Dunn as a slingshot to the finish with Sydney's Ashlee Ankudinoff claiming the bronze medal.

"I'm really stoked to win the [scratch and points race] double and my first scratch race win at senior level," said Goss who admits Dunn's recent win in the points race at the Beijing World Cup round did provide an incentive to perform this week. "I'll be honest and say that when I saw Megan's result from Beijing I did feel a little bit of pressure so I was definitely aiming to come here and have a solid performance and pleased to say I handled it well and performed on the day."

Queensland's Jordan Kerby grabbed the gold in the under 19 men's 25 kilometre points race after gaining a bonus 20 points for lapping the field and collecting 15 points across the 10 intermediate sprints. He finished five points clear of South Australian Alexander Edmondson (30 points), who also took a lap on the field. Meanwhile bronze medallist Dale Parker, also from South Australia, collected all of his 26 points from the sprints.

One other rider, Julian Bissett of West Australia, was also with Kerby and Edmondson when they lapped the field 56 laps from home and launched an attack late in the race to try and pip Parker for the bronze, but Parker also claimed points in the final sprint across the line to finish one point ahead of Bissett.

In the under 19 men's team sprint Victorian Maddison Hammond collected his third gold medal of the week when he teamed with Luke Parker and Nathan Corrigan-Martella to post a time of 46.850sec and defeat South Australia's Matthew Glaetzer, Patrick Norton and Edward Coad who posted a time of 47.600sec. The bronze medal was awarded to West Australia's Jonathan Bathe, Jack Ward and Luke Zaccaria after NSW was disqualified for not changing over in accordance with the regulations.

"It was an unbelievable performance by the boys," said Hammond. "Luke's start in the first round wasn't too good because he had a bit of a mechanical but his first lap in the final was great and both times Nathan delivered me so well to the line for the last lap.

"I'm really happy with my three gold so far and tomorrow I'll race the kilo (kilometre time trial) and omnium so I hope to freshen up tonight and come back strong tomorrow."

The under 19 women's Keirin was won by Holly Williams (WA) ahead of her teammate Cassandra Flugge with Adele Sylvester moved into the bronze medal position after fellow Victorian Shannon McCurley was relegated to last place for not keeping her line in the final sprint.