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Published: 21st April 2014
Report: Snowdon Sports
David Clarke (KTM) sprinted to victory after a race-long breakaway of 140 kilometres in the Drummond Trophy at Strathaven in Lanarkshire on Easter Sunday.
Straight from the gun a four-man breakaway formed and they soon built up a lead of a minute over a chasing group with the bunch 1 minute 30 seconds back.
As the race developed the leading group narrowed down to three men consisting of Clarke, Peter Murdoch (Paisley Velo RT) and Ben Hetherington (Achieve-Skinnergate).
Working well together, the gap to the chasers increased and coming into the final lap their lead had grown to nearly two minutes. In the closing stages Hetherington fell behind leaving a two-up sprint for victory.
Clarke, aged 34 and from Swadlincote, sprinted to a narrow victory ahead of Murdoch with Hetherington coming in on his own for third.
After the race, Clarke said: “The race went well and we had quite a strong team here today, the break went straight from the start and in the end it was just me and Peter left.
“Usually he is faster than me at the finish, today it was a really close sprint and we were neck and neck until 10 yards to go when I knew I had won.
“It is always nice to get your first win of the season and we have been racing in France and Belgium so far as well as the Premier Calendar last week where the field was a bit stronger than today.
“My next target is the Rutland Premier Calendar which is a local race for me.”
The prestigious race had also attracted riders from NFTO (Dean and Russell Downing, James McCallum) Team Raleigh’s Evan Oliphant and others from Starley Primal, but none featured in the top results.
Results:
1 David Clarke (KTM)
2 Peter Murdoch (Paisley Velo RT)
3 Ben Hetherington (Achieve-Skinnergate)
