August 26, 2007 (Binghamton, NY) – In the 23-year history of the Chris Thater Memorial Criterium, only once had the finale ended in a field sprint, and the Sunday, August 26, 2007 edition would live up to its history with Navigators’ Kyle Wamsley throwing caution to the wind and attacking the bunch into the final meters of the race to take the victory.

The forty-lap event (1.92km distance per lap) was under complete assault by Wamsley as he featured in three breakaways, one of which stayed away for twenty laps. The long-standing five-man breakaway featured two- time Chris Thater Memorial winner Mark Walters (Can) Kodak Gallery, Edward King (Priority Health) and Rite Aid’s Alejandro Borrajo and William Elliston. At one point in the race, the quintet had a time gap of 36 seconds and looked as though they might take it all the way to the finish; however, the Toyota-United squad had missed out on the break, and put all their riders on the front.

Throughout the chase, Toyota-United and AEG-Toshiba buried themselves to bring the break back reaching speeds of 48 kms per hour. Within the last two laps of the race, the breakaway was reabsorbed into the peloton, while Health Net’s Shawn Milne counter-attacked. Milne’s efforts were nullified as Toyota United reeled him in with less than 1.5 laps to go. Wamsley, saw his opportunity on the last lap during the final throws of the race, and gapped the pack. Wamsley said of the race, ” I hit the last corner, and knew that I had the win when I saw the gap,” he continued, “I took a big gamble and it paid off. “

Results (brief)

1. Kyle Wamsley (USA) Navigators Insurance, 1:51:04
2. Ivan Dominguez (Cub) Toyota-United
3. Karl Menzies (Aus) Health Net presented by Maxxis
4. Keven Lacombe (Can) Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast
5. Rory Sutherland (Aus) Health Net presented by Maxxis
6. Erik Lyman (Can) Calyon/Litespeed
7. Emile Abraham (Tri) Priority Health Cycling Team
8. Anibal Borrajo (Arg) Argentina
9. Luca Damiani (Ita) Colavita/Sutter Home
10. Frank Travieso (Cub) AEG-Toshiba Jet Network