CORY Gathercole was born in Irymple, Victoria, Australia on 2 December 1986.
The youngster is, of course, a cousin of Swindon Speedway legend Leigh Adams and his riding style bears an uncanny resemblance to that of the imperious Sultan of Slide.
Gathercole first appeared in the UK during 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.
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 ride in just two further matches for Swindon’s junior team during his holiday 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 twenty-eight of their league matches to accrue 189 points and a solid 7.16 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.
Robins’ boss Alun Rossiter was delighted to keep Cory on board as the club’s No. 8 rider in 2008, a season that will see the Aussie again represent the Isle of Wight in the Premier League. The deduction of bonus points for the purpose of green sheet averages means that he will begin the term for the Islanders on a handy 6.04 figure.
On 3 January, Rosco announced that he would again be part of the Swindon squad for the new term. He 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.’
