CYCLING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 174, 25 July 1928, Page 15

CYCLING.

AMONG THE AMATEURS. TEAM-RACING EVENT. The second time trial and sealed handicap of the Manukau Amateur and Cycle Club will be held at Mangere next Saturday, over a 22-mile course. Particular interest centres in this event, as opinions are still divided as to who is the club's best unpaced rider. H. Dwight has been such a consistent performer at this class of racing that he must start favourite; but despite this fact, J. Whitten, J. H. Wade and M. P. Byrnes are all capable of extending him, and if Saturday is a decent road racing day, the meeting of these four can certainly be looked forward to. Team racing has had a popular following in all branches of sport for years, and on Saturday at Mangere it made good in amateur cycling. The 17-mile event staged by the Manukau Amateur Cycle Club, was a most interesting event, the eight teams being fairly evenly matched. Starting at two minutes' intervals, the field was sent away in relays of three, and from the word go it was seen that the skippers of the various teams were out to make their teams win if they possibly could. L. G. Chambers, the skipper of the winning team, worked hard to hold his team together, and at the same time win. Finishing with 33s to spare he scored a comfortable win, but his team mates. L. Pinfold and D. Fletcher, looked as if they could have made it more than that if they had wanted to. The last named is only a boy, but he took his lap with the other two in brilliant fashion. The second team to finish, C. I. Gainsborough (skipper), W. Tomlinson and W. Dwight, were one of the favourites for this' event, but they could not foot It with the winners. Con Gainsborough worked hard right through the race, handling his team well, but found the opposition too strong. C. Galbraith (skipper), F. Taylor and H. Russell comprised the third team to finish. They put up a good showing over the first lap, but died away in the second, which lost them a lot of time, for in the last lap they put in a good run, but it was then too late. The smallest number of riders this season faced the starter in Saturday's junior race, which proved to be a walk over for the front markers, E. Hall, and N. Wardell. These two made every post a winning one, and ran home the easiest of winners two hundred yards ahead of C. Francis (lm 2ps), who got third and fastest time. E. Hall, the winner, was too strong a rider for N. Wardell and had no trouble in winning as he liked. This is his first win this season, but it should be the forerunner of others, as he has a good style, and can stay. N. Wardell, who finished second, looked to have a winning chance at the Black Bridge, but the last mile and a-half found his weak spots. Mr. E. G. Guy, "vice-president of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association, and a member of the council, is at present in Auckland and will be here for some days. In conversation with him in reference to the hold cycling is taking on the sporting public, he says that last year's events were very popular with them, and he is certain this year's will be more* so. He holds a great future for Wellington when they have a banked track, and by the end of this year he hopes this will have taken definite shape. He claims that had F. Grose, the New Zealand sprint champion, not met with an accident whQe training, he had every chance of beating Standen and Gray—the two Australian Olympic reps, who visited the Dominion last yeor, in Christehurch had they met He considers Flett is the best all-round amateur cyclist in Wellington and holds great hopes of him showing his best form this year, as he met with a bad accident last year, when he was riding at his best; which put him right out of action for the season. This year the Wellington Centre are running the New Zealand 50-mile championship and while here Mr. Guy will endeavour to persuade J. H. Wade, the holder of the title, to make the trip to Wellington to defend it.