Law claims maiden national road title

Wollongong's Scott Law has claimed his first major Australian road title, the under 23 Australian Criterium Championship, the opening event of the Mars Cycling Australia Road National Championships at Ballarat.

Law, national omnium and scratch race champion prevailed over Jayco-AIS representative Jay McCarthy and defending champion, Tasmania's Ben Grenda. Jayco-HoneyShotz rider Mitchell Lovelock-Fay took out the Sprint Championship.

With Law's focus being on the track in the lead up to the national titles at the end of the month, the 19-year-old was hoping the speed work would pay off.

"The title has been one of my big objectives especially with my track background and the speed work and I've been training quite hard for it," said Law. "I definitely had high hopes but never thought I'd be up there holding the green and gold."

Grenda said he was "happy to get a medal" in back-to-back championships but it was far from smooth sailing.

"I was making a good fly in to the last corner and I ended up crashing into the back of Jay [McCarthy] and someone else so I did the divebomb up the gutter and that moved me into about fourth wheel but I'd lost all my speed so I was just trying to hang on up the straight," he explained to Cyclingnews. "I thought I was going to be on my backside for a minute but I stayed up so it wasn't too bad."

A daring escape from Aaron Donnelly was caught on the final bend heading up the finishing uphill straight resulting in a bunch sprint to the finish in the 30 lap, 33 kilometre event. The Jayco-AIS rider had been active from the opening laps, along with Lovelock-Fay who was ultra-attentive during the sprint primes.

Lovelock-Fay said he was shocked at the result, considering he has been struggling with injury in the lead up to the championships.
"I wasn't feeling anywhere near this good back in Canberra so I'm pretty happy with where my form is with the road race and time trial coming up," he told Cyclingnews.

The pair made a move with 10 laps remaining which hovered around the 10 second mark before Donnelly made the move down the back straight with five laps remaining. With one circuit left to race, Donnelly's seven second lead was swallowed up at the bottom of the course.

Law, who will ride for the An Post - Sean Kelly team in Europe in 2012 following a frustrating season with V Australia, admitted he had thought that Donnelly wouldn't be reeled in.

"We had a couple of strong guys pulling some hard turns up there from there and I knew the AIS guys weren't going to do anything so I just sort of waited and waited and tried to figure out what was going to happen but I was pretty lucky in the end that he got caught in the last two corners," he explained.

Law's NSWIS teammate Caleb Ewan proved to be one of the real surprise packets of the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic earlier in the week where two stage wins lead to the 17-year-old finishing second overall behind Allan Davis, something Law explained gave him the confidence of getting a big result.

"At a couple of the club crits that we do I'm usually the one to lead him out," he said. "He's an unbelievable young kid with bigger things to come."

Full results

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Scott Law (NSW)0:45:55
2Jay McCarthy (Qld)Row 1 - Cell 2
3Ben Grenda (Tas)Row 2 - Cell 2
4Benjamin Hill (NSW)Row 3 - Cell 2
5Jackson Law (NSW)Row 4 - Cell 2
6Aaron Donnelly (NSW)Row 5 - Cell 2
7Damien Howson (SA)Row 6 - Cell 2
8Jordan Kerby (Qld)Row 7 - Cell 2
9Brenton Jones (Vic)Row 8 - Cell 2
10Mitchell Codner (NSW)Row 9 - Cell 2
11George Tansley (SA)Row 10 - Cell 2
12Ryan Macanally (Qld)Row 11 - Cell 2
13Luke Davison (NSW)Row 12 - Cell 2
14James Mowatt (Vic)Row 13 - Cell 2
15Pat Drapac (Vic)Row 14 - Cell 2
16Joshua Prete (Qld)0:00:08
17Angus Tobin (NSW)Row 16 - Cell 2
18Sam Crome (Vic)0:00:09
19Blake Hose (Vic)Row 18 - Cell 2
20James Rendall (NSW)Row 19 - Cell 2
21Alex Clements (Tas)Row 20 - Cell 2
22Jack Beckinsale (NSW)Row 21 - Cell 2
23Lachlan Morton (NSW)Row 22 - Cell 2
24Stuart Mulhern (Qld)Row 23 - Cell 2
25Trenton Day (NSW)Row 24 - Cell 2
26Samuel Spokes (NSW)Row 25 - Cell 2
27Josh Taylor (NSW)Row 26 - Cell 2
28Cameron Bayly (SA)0:00:14
29Mitchell Lovelock-Fay (ACT)0:00:16
30Thomas Palmer (ACT)0:00:18
31Darcy Woolley (Vic)Row 30 - Cell 2
32Liam Dove (Vic)0:00:19
33Scott Mcphee (SA)0:00:21
34Alex Wong (NSW)0:00:30
35Harry Carpenter (SA)Row 34 - Cell 2
36James Boal (Vic)0:00:34
37Joel Stearnes (Tas)Row 36 - Cell 2
38Stephen Hall (WA)Row 37 - Cell 2
39Cameron Ivory (NSW)0:00:43
40Alex Carver (NSW)0:00:49
41David Edwards (Qld)0:00:55
42Campbell Flakemore (Tas)0:01:01
43Jack Matthews (Tas)0:01:06
44Samuel Davis (WA)0:01:23
45Alastair Loutit (NSW)0:01:25
46Julian Hamill (NSW)0:01:26
47Jared Triggs (NSW)Row 46 - Cell 2
48Peter Loft (Tas)0:02:17
49Brian Mcleod (Qld)Row 48 - Cell 2
DNFNick Aitken (Vic)Row 49 - Cell 2
DNFCalvin Watson (Vic)Row 50 - Cell 2
DNFLachlan Ambrose (SA)Row 51 - Cell 2
DNFPhillip Mundy (SA)Row 52 - Cell 2
DNFDaniel O'Keefe (NSW)Row 53 - Cell 2
DNFMitchell Cooper (Vic)Row 54 - Cell 2
DNFStefan Imberger (Vic)Row 55 - Cell 2
DNFMerlin Spranz (SA)Row 56 - Cell 2
DNFJames Butler (Vic)Row 57 - Cell 2
DNFLuke Collyer (NSW)Row 58 - Cell 2
DNFMichael Crosbie (Vic)Row 59 - Cell 2
DNFCallum Fagg (Tas)Row 60 - Cell 2
DNFLuke Fetch (Vic)Row 61 - Cell 2
DNFJarryd Jones (Vic)Row 62 - Cell 2
DNFMatthew Lane (Vic)Row 63 - Cell 2
DNFSam Mccallum (Vic)Row 64 - Cell 2
DNFMacauley Mulhull (NSW)Row 65 - Cell 2
DNFConor Murtagh (Vic)Row 66 - Cell 2
DNFDanny Pulbrook (Tas)Row 67 - Cell 2
DNFRick Sanders (Vic)Row 68 - Cell 2
DNFBradley Wills (Vic)Row 69 - Cell 2
DNFLuke Ockerby (Tas)Row 70 - Cell 2
DNSKevin Hawes (NSW)Row 71 - Cell 2
DNSFraser Northey (SA)Row 72 - Cell 2
DNSNathan Elliott (Vic)Row 73 - Cell 2
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Intermediate sprints - 24 to go
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Brian Mcleod (Qld)3pts
2Blake Hose (Vic)2Row 1 - Cell 3
3Luke Davison (NSW)1Row 2 - Cell 3
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22 to go
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Luke Davison (NSW)3pts
2Samuel Davis (WA)2Row 1 - Cell 3
3Alastair Loutit (NSW)1Row 2 - Cell 3
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20 to go
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Mitchell Lovelock-Fay (ACT)3pts
2Lachlan Morton (NSW)2Row 1 - Cell 3
3Luke Ockerby (Tas)1Row 2 - Cell 3
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18 to go
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Mitchell Lovelock-Fay (ACT)3pts
2James Mowatt (Vic)2Row 1 - Cell 3
3Brian Mcleod (Qld)1Row 2 - Cell 3
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16 to go
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Mitchell Lovelock-Fay (ACT)3pts
2James Mowatt (Vic)2Row 1 - Cell 3
3Calvin Watson (Vic)1Row 2 - Cell 3
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14 to go
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Phillip Mundy (SA)3pts
2Aaron Donnelly (NSW)2Row 1 - Cell 3
3George Tansley (SA)1Row 2 - Cell 3
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12 to go
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Aaron Donnelly (NSW)3pts
2Phillip Mundy (SA)2Row 1 - Cell 3
3Luke Fetch (Vic)1Row 2 - Cell 3
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10 to go
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Mitchell Lovelock-Fay (ACT)3pts
2Aaron Donnelly (NSW)2Row 1 - Cell 3
3Samuel Davis (WA)1Row 2 - Cell 3
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8 to go
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Mitchell Lovelock-Fay (ACT)3pts
2Alex Carver (NSW)2Row 1 - Cell 3
3Luke Fetch (Vic)1Row 2 - Cell 3
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6 to go
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Mitchell Lovelock-Fay (ACT)3pts
2Phillip Mundy (SA)2Row 1 - Cell 3
3Nick Aitken (Vic)1Row 2 - Cell 3
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4 to go
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Aaron Donnelly (NSW)3pts
2Calvin Watson (Vic)2Row 1 - Cell 3
3Mitchell Lovelock-Fay (ACT)1Row 2 - Cell 3
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Sprint Competition
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResultHeader Cell - Column 3
1Mitchell Lovelock-Fay (ACT)19pts
2Aaron Donnelly (NSW)10Row 1 - Cell 3
3Phillip Mundy (SA)7Row 2 - Cell 3
4Luke Davison (NSW)4Row 3 - Cell 3
5Brian Mcleod (Qld)4Row 4 - Cell 3
6James Mowatt (Vic)4Row 5 - Cell 3
7Samuel Davis (WA)3Row 6 - Cell 3
8Calvin Watson (Vic)3Row 7 - Cell 3
9Blake Hose (Vic)2Row 8 - Cell 3
10Lachlan Morton (NSW)2Row 9 - Cell 3
11Alex Carver (NSW)2Row 10 - Cell 3
12Luke Fetch (Vic)2Row 11 - Cell 3
13George Tansley (SA)1Row 12 - Cell 3
14Alastair Loutit (NSW)1Row 13 - Cell 3
15Nick Aitken (Vic)1Row 14 - Cell 3
16Luke Ockerby (Tas)1Row 15 - Cell 3

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As a sports journalist and producer since 1997, Jane has covered Olympic and Commonwealth Games, rugby league, motorsport, cricket, surfing, triathlon, rugby union, and golf for print, radio, television and online. However her enduring passion has been cycling.

 

Jane is a former Australian Editor of Cyclingnews from 2011 to 2013 and continues to freelance within the cycling industry.


 

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