Speed-Cycling on Road and Track

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 25, 21 April 1927, Page 7

Speed-Cycling on Road and Track

■ ■illllllilllllllllllllil: (BY ‘'CHAINWHEEL.”! Rl||||||Mi|||l;il|i|llSilllllM

FIXTURES April 23.—"Teams’ Race, Mangere; 5a Miles Open Handicap, Mangere. April 30.—23 Miles “Time Trial,” Mangere. The Easter sports conducted at Hamilton on Easter Saturday and at Ngahinepouri on Easter Monday were highly successful and the close finishes in several of the events worked the large crowds to no small degree of enthusiasm. This was especially the case at the finish of the quarter-mile championship when C. G. Galbraith made M. P. Byrnes rid,a every inch of the last 100 yards. The five miles championship delighted the spectators by reason of the numerous sprints during the progress of the race. H. Scarfe, Wellington, J. H. Wade and F. J. Casey, Auckland, were prominent in these dashes for the lap prizes, Wade eventually winning the trophy given to the rider who took the most lajDs.

At Ngahinepouri, the Aucklanders Byrnes and Wade won every race, the most successful local rider being Tapper, who came second in both the halfmile and mile handicaps. The track was in fair order, but the tricky bend

leading into the straight inconvenienced many of the competitors, who often swung out perilously close to the spectators. J. H. Wade camp to grief at this corner when he was turning for the last time in the three miles handicap. At this point he was riding strongly in second place, being fully five yards in front of Scarfe. NOTES AND COMMENTS M. P. Byrnes won the Points’ Cup at Ngahinepouri with 10 points, Tapper and Wade being second and third with eight and five points respectively. This cup is a handsome trophy and there will probably be one donated each year. F. J. Tapper, a youth of 16 years, is a promising lad, who has been riding very consistently of late. At Matamata he gained a first and a second, and now lie has added two more seconds to his list. E. J. Blakeway and M. J. Randrup were non-competitors at the above sports. Randrup has just recently joined the professional ranks, and Blakeway was not in sufficient training for the meeting. Although Byrnes won the three championships the most promising performances were put up by Galbraith and Wade. Galbraith was runner-up in the three championships, and Wade was third in two of the events. F. J. Casey was third in the sprint race, but he failed to sprint with his customary dash in the other events. The four competitors who rode from Auckland to Hamilton, Stewart, Baker, Wilson and Faithful], were affected by the long journey and did not show to advantage in the sprints. Baker, however, finished fourth in the big event. All told, 12 riders journeyed from Auckland to Hamilton and these were practically the only cyclists participating. There were a few riders from Ngaruawaliia, but Hamilton was poorly represented. The formation of a sub-centre would encourage amateur sport in the Waikato.

SATURDAY’S ROAD RACE HANDICAPS DECLARED The following handicaps have been declared by Mr. E. H. Cucksey for the s*-mile road race to be held next Saturday afternoon over the Mangere circuit: M. P. Byrnes and C. G. Galbraith, scr.; F. J. Casey and W. T. Bray, 30sec.; J. Whitten, Les. Wilson, V. Baker, 11. Dwight, K. J. Mathieson, K. Rowe, K. G. Brown, 45sec.; J. V'. Gore, T. Baird, J. H. Wade, W. McCollum, W. Rowe, IT. McElroy, C. Clarke, N. Fisher, L. Chambers, J. C. Stewart, W. Tomlinson, D. C. Stewart, lmin.; D. O’Connell, R. Pelham, B. Titchiner, W. G. Jeeves, J. Whelan, Chas. Faithfull, 11. Gargan, 11. Russell, E. G. Botterill, V. Sanders, A. Green, E. Boucher, E. M. Taylor, H. C. Stanstield, Tj. Benjamin, 1.10; R. A. Mclntyre, A. Sercombe, F. Iv. Glass, H. Peak in, Blake Clark, E. Andrews, W. Dwight, W. B. Worboys, A. W. Pinker, E. Grant, C.

Gainsborough, Les. Devlin. 1.20; 1.. Bickerton, C. L. Russell, J. S. Beard, F. Bowman. F. Grogan, R. E. Wright. I. Gear, P. Platt, I. Aldred, F. Harvey. H. Webb, 1.30; S. Baird. H. Stewart, A. Watson, Geo. Heron, J. Commons. D. Anderson, G. M. Kelly. O. Felton. T. George. H. Caves, A. Dickey, G. A. Young, A. Davies, 1.40. The race will start at 2.30 sharp, sc* as to allow time for the teams race over a distance of 17 miles—three laps. CASH RIDERS FINISH TRACK SEASON TE AROHA MEETING (BY “VELOS”) Easter Monday saw the finish of the 1927 track racing season. Aroha Cycling and Athletic Club's meeting on that day was one of the most successful the club has held. The track was exceptionally fast and, mainly owing to that fact, several spills occurred. J. Adlam had to have several stitches put in his head to enable him to get home. It would be a good thing if sports officials would see to it that the leading rider “keeps to the pole.” This would minimise accidents and would be conforming to the rules. It was quite common at Te Aroha on Monday to see the back men come through on the inside. This is not allowed. J. Adlam, who scored two wins at Te Aroha on Easter Monday, is like champion Phil O’Shea; lie improves with age. Years ago, Adlam was in a class by here in Auckland, as a cyclist; and even now it is hard to understand how he gets the handicaps that he does. Adlam won the mile and events. M. Randrup, son of the former champion of New Zealand, rode well, and won the points prize donated by Mr. N. Quirk for most points in the cycle events. His performances stamp him as a rider with a future. He has a good style on liis machine, and rides with excellent judgment. WILL BE HEARD OF AGAIN . .J. Harcourt (scr) is the most improved rider in Auckland to-day. He was asked to pick up some impossible handicaps owing to riders near him dropping out. In his heat of the mile he had as his nearest man Lynch, 120 yards. This proved too much for him. His only place during the afternoon was third in the handicap. In the three-mile event, after catching the field with two laps to go, he skidded and fell. He had a winning chance when the accident occurred.

A. Taylor is a very solid rider. He had bad luck in accidentally crossing Adlam in the two miles, causing the latter to fall. Taylor was subsequently put out for the day by the committee foi* erratic riding. The veteran, W. Hill, rode very consistently in all the handicap events, but could not manage to catch the jLidge’s eye. However, in the consolation race, a mile handicap, he won this event from scratch. Jim Henderson, Jack Adlam and P. Lynch, the middle-markers at Te Aroha on Easter Monday, worked well together, and it was mainly due to their splendid pacing that the times recorded were in the vicinity of a record for the track. When a scratch man is asked to do a mile in 2.13, on a clay track with no banking, it means he has got to go some. Hubert Opperman, champion pacefollower of Australia, seems to be in a class by himself at this particular game. Recently at the Motordrome, Melbourne, he defeated Corry and Gibaud in a three-cornered motorpaced race. A race between him and W. Mackie, Christchurch, would draw a gate. The League of New South Wales Wheelmen has just finished running a six days’ continuous cycle race. This is a gruelling grind and one that soon finds the weak spots in any rider. There were four Nej.v Zealanders entered, viz., J. Henderson, R. and D. Nicholson, and W. Holland. The winners were J. Fitzgerald and K. Ross, Victoria. The race finished last Saturday night in a deluge of rain.

The Austral Wheel Race was revived in Melbourne last month. “The scene of activities was tke Exhibition Ground. There were 110 entries, and after the first round there were 40 riders, including J. Fitzgerald on scratch, left in the semi-finals. The final was won by Stevens; Middleton (a son of A. A. Middleton, a former Austral winner) second, Brady third. The prizes were £250. In years gone by this race attracted 50,000 people to the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Jack Fitzgerald, probably the fastest cyclist in Australia to-day, had the pleasure of being “shook off” in the five-mile Victorian championship last month. Tandem pacers were put on, each team doing five laps on the Exhibition track. The pace at times was over 30 miles an hour, and with five laps to go “Fitzie” got switched up the bank, where he gave up.

The Auckland Athletic and Cycling Club will open its road-racing season on April 30 with a 10-mile handicap on the Mangere course. Last season saw some good races Held by the A.A. and C.C., and this jfar promises to be a record as far as entries are concerned.