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 GATHERCOLE, Cory James
DATE OF BIRTH: 2 December 1986, Irymple, Victoria, Australia.
BRITISH CAREER: (2007-08) Isle of Wight, Swindon; (2009-10) Somerset, Swindon.
MAJOR HONOURS: Western Australia State Champion: 2007; Victoria State Champion: 2007; New South Wales Under-21 State Champion: 2007.
CLUB HONOUR: Four-Team Championship winner: 2007 [Isle of Wight].
RIDER LINKS: Second cousin of Leigh Adams (born: 28 April 1971, Mildura, Victoria, Australia).
2010 STARTING AVERAGE: 7.69 (PL), 3.85 (EL).
ADDITIONAL INFO: Although the Aussie is a second cousin of the mighty Leigh Adams, he is very much an upcoming rider in his own right, having taken his first skids as a junior at Mildura, Australia, in November 1999. After winning the Victoria State Junior Championship in 2001 and the Australian Junior Pairs Championship with Mark Jones the following year, he moved on to 500cc equipment when he turned 16-years-of-age on 2 December 2002.
After continuing to hone his skills, Gathercole first appeared in the UK in 2006, when he visited on a holiday and rode briefly for the Swindon Sprockets. His first outing occurred at Poole in a junior challenge match on 7 June, when he notched a tally of 4+1 points. And he had clearly learnt a lot from his illustrious relative, as his riding style bore an uncanny resemblance to that of the imperious Sultan of Slide.
He returned to Poole a week later on 14 June, when he scored 6 points for the Sprockets in a Southern Area League encounter with the Dorset outfit's youngsters. Cory was to appear in just two further matches for Swindon's junior team during his vacation stint, recording unbeaten tallies of 9 and 8+1 points versus Eastbourne (away) in a league match and Somerset (home) in a challenge fixture on 17 and 29 June, respectively.
Down Under, during our winter, Gathercole had a bit of a ball, firstly winning the Western Australia State Championship at Pinjar Park on 18 November, when he finished ahead of Cameron Woodward and former Swindon rider Frank Smart on the rostrum. Continuing his whirlwind form, he then took victory in the Australian Championship qualifier at Gillman on 30 December, out-pointing Tom Hedley and Tyron Proctor at the head of the score-chart. Cory subsequently annexed 37 series points from the five-round Australian Championship, finishing in thirteenth place overall.
His good form continued at Gillman on 20 January 2007, when he netted 12 points to finish third in the South Australian Championship, behind winner Rory Schlein and runner-up Chris Holder. And, completing an excellent Aussie season, he won the Victorian Championship ahead of Cameron Woodward and Tyron Proctor at Mildura on 10 February.
Gathercole was subsequently handed a British speedway berth by the Isle of Wight and he showed plenty of promise in his inaugural season. Despite suffering more falls than he would have wished, he certainly did enough to impress at the full-throttle Smallbrook raceway.
Indeed, he remained ever-present for the Islanders, appearing in all forty-four of their official matches to accrue 257 points and a solid 6.36 average. An obvious highlight occurred on 3 July, when he posted a paid maximum in a home encounter versus Edinburgh, carding a tally of 13+2 points in a huge 67-24 win.
And, on 1 July, he replaced Tommy Allen as Swindon's No. 8 rider, eventually making his debut for the Robins at Wolverhampton in a league match on 20 August, when he determinedly scored 2+2 points. In total, he was to make five appearances for the Wiltshire side, three in the Elite League and a couple in the Knock-Out Cup.
Former Robins' boss Alun Rossiter was delighted to keep Cory on board as the club's No. 8 rider in 2008, a season that again saw the Aussie again represent the Isle of Wight in the Premier League. The announcement came on 3 January via the Swindon press office, when Rosco said: "Cory is one for the future and he had a productive first season over here last year. We are hoping that he can improve at the same sort of rate as Chris Holder did with the Isle of Wight."
However, Gathercole's campaign was disrupted by a hand injury in the middle part of the term but, prior to the setback, he had been performing well at both Premier and Elite League level.
A move to Somerset followed in 2009 and he was again identified on the Robins' books in a ‘doubling-up' capacity - alongside American Ryan Fisher - until a change in July saw him replaced in the role by fellow Aussie Mark Lemon, with Gathercole instead moving into the No. 8 berth in place of a third speedster from Down Under, namely Richard Sweetman.
There were several eye-catching performances for Swindon, the undoubted highlight being a huge tally of 14+2 points from seven outings when the Robins entertained eventual League Champions Wolverhampton on 21 May.
In November, Swindon revealed that Gathercole's name was the first on their team-sheet in a ‘doubling-up' capacity for 2010 and, towards the tail-end of the month, Somerset were delighted to announce that he would represent them for a second successive season on loan from the Robins.
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