GREAT FEAT

NZ Truth, Issue 1141, 13 October 1927, Page 12

GREAT FEAT

Road Champion In Fine Form (By "Starter.") In winning first place and establishing fastest time from the scratch mark m the gruelling Palmerston North to Wellington road cycle race last Saturday, Lukey, the South Island road champion, was responsible for a truly magnificent performance. AS a result, New Zealanders have no ** cause to worry about his ability to represent this country m the Colac to Melbourne classic next month. Out of the sixty odd entries, over fifty sef out hopefully on the journey. With the quality engaged on some of the shorter limits, it was felt the scratch men would have to struggle hard to get into the time honors, let alone hope for. first place. As it happened, however, the two Canterbury boys on the scratch mark, Lukey and Grose, had ideas of their own on that point, and set out to catch the leaders at a rate that was more befitting to a two-mile track sprint instead of a hundred miles of tough road. Right merrily they went, taking lap for lap, and gradually at first, then more rapidly, picking up the handicap men. Carswell, the Wellington champion, pulled out of the race at Levin, and this left Grose and Lukey to make the going for themselves. At Paraparaumu Grose, who was really not trained up enough for the race, began to fly distress signals, and a little further along a puncture put him out of the race. Lukey, however, kept the pace up, and many toiling, weary, handicap men, seeing him go past m a cloud of dust, found that to be the i last straw and retired to the roadside. Tommy Oakley (Wairarapa) and Webber (Wellington) put up the best fight amongst the others. Webber, the oldest man m the race, but not much over 30 for all that, was on the 30---minute mark, and rode a confident x-ace from start to finish. He gained second place and third fastest time. Oakley had five minutes' dtart and was with a powerful bunch of riders, but accident and fatigue soon took toll of them. For a great part of the journey he had to battle along alone. He rode well into fourth place and second fastest time. Lukey's. time for the distance was shrs. 39min. 42 l/ssecs., as against last year's time of 6hrs. 39min. 30secs. Under the grim conditions that prevailed, this may be considered very meritorious indeed. Lukey is not new to hard road racing conditions, having taken part m the Warrnambool to Melbourne and many other shorter events, but he stated after the race that the course was the hardest he had ever had to ride over.

In casea of certain cars it will be found of great advantage m lubricating shackle-bolts to get another person to rock the car. This will ensure