AS national under 19 madison champions, brothers Cameron and Lachlan Scott were the hot favourites to take out the men's invitational madison on Saturday night at the Bathurst Velodrome.
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They lived up to that expectation.
Over the 60-lap race which saw points awarded every 10 laps, the Scotts featured in every sprint to finish with a tally of 21 points.
It gave them the nod over Ben Harvey and Nick Yallouris (15 points), while Bathurst’s Harrison Carter paired with Tirian McManus (10 points) to claim third.
“Our goal was to control it, stay in the front, stay in the top four riders and stay out of trouble then try and change on the last lap before the sprint,” Lachlan Scott said, making reference to the madison format which sees only one rider from each team actively racing at a time.
“It was good to pick up points in every sprint, that was one of our goals as well.
“It was good to stretch the legs and have a nice hit out before Oceania [titles]. The track was good, I enjoyed racing here.”
Cameron Scott won the opening sprint of Saturday’s madison, giving the brothers who wore Australian colours the early lead.
It was a lead they did not surrender.
The pair continued to accumulate points and when taking out the sprint on lap 50, assured themselves of victory no matter who was across the line first on the final circuit.
The battle for the minor placings was closer, with Carter and McManus only just holding on for third after messing up their change and missing out on points for the final sprint.
Still, Carter was delighted to finish on the podium in front of his home crowd as he and McManus contested their first madison together.
“It was our first time riding in a race as a team, so I am really happy with that. It was a safe race and it was a quality field – it is awesome to see that calibre of rider in Bathurst,” Carter said.
“We had a bit of a gear difference, Tirian was on a bigger gear which probably hurt him a little bit more. I am lacking in endurance at the moment, I’m powerful and fast but lacking in endurance, so the longer it went, I was hurting in the wind.
“In the sprint we timed it so Tirian was there, and there and there and picking up points and if I had a little bit more endurance, I think we could’ve been further up the ladder with a few more points.
“But I am really happy, it’s a good stepping stone for us.”
McManus was equally as pleased with the result as he made his return to racing, having endured a tough period off the bike recovering from two operations.
“I was dying with 10 laps to go, I did a few sprints there and I was trying to recover,” he said.
