TOURIST TROPHY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 25, 31 January 1933, Page 14

TOURIST TROPHY.

MOTOR CYCLES ON WAIHEKE.

MOSES FINISHES AXONE.

MANY ENGINE FAILURES,

Of the nine riders who started in the JSTew Zealand Tourist Trophy race on Waiheke Island yesterday, only one, Sid Moses, completed the 25 laps- —this despite the fact that since last year's race the 6%-mile circuit of road has been for the most part graded and surfaced, and the corners have been widened. Two men were injured, H. Fletcher gashing his hand, and W. Youren dislocating his shoulder. All the others were forced to retire with engine troubles or damaged machines.

Starting last, Moses set a terrific pace, his lap times ranging from 7m 32s to 7m 365. The only other to last 17 laps was Len Sowerby, who, though hopelessly behind, kept going until his engine failed him in the twenty-fourth lap. He finished the race on a borrowed machine, but he was not given a place in the result. Two small wireless stations, one at the judge's corner and the other at the far side of the circuit, proved very valuable, as falls and other accidents, and the relative positions of the riders, were reported throughout the race. Nine Starters. Eleven entrants were • listed, but' the injuries received, when he crashed at Mangere Speedway last Saturday week debarred F. Lindesay from riding, while A. McLaren, who came from Hamilton to compete, "blew up" his engine in practice. Alf Mattson (Norton) led off, followed at intervals of half a minute by L. Sowerby ' (Velocette), B. Bray (Norton), R. Lockett (A.J.3.), L. Perry (Royal

Enfield), H. Fletcher (Norton), C. Goldberg (8.5.A.), W. Youren (Ariel) and S. Moses (Rudge). The first casualty was H. Fletcher, who skidded in the loose metal on the downhill run, and crashed into the bank. Although he was able to ride his machine back to the pit, completing one lap, he could not 6tart again in the race, as his hand was badly gashed. In the second lap Mattson came off a little higher up the hill than where Fletcher fell, and walked in to report that his brake had seized and his machine had skidded into the water-table, bending the front forks and buckling the wheel. Mosos Winning. After passing Sowerby in the fourth round, Bray was leading the field in fact as well as on time allowance,' with Sowerby dropping further back in second place, and Lockett, third man, a long way astern. In tiie next lap, however, Bray burned out his clutch, and had* to retire when he reached the pit, leaving Sowerby and Lockett in first and second places. Already, Moses now in third place, was, 011 time allowance, winning the race, and he was gaining perceptibly in every lap on the men ahead.. As he passed the pit at the end of the sixth lap, close behind Moses, the tank of Perry's machine was seen to : be leaking, and he failed to complete the next lap. His retirement brought Goldberg into fourth place, and Youren fifth. After stopping to refuel at the end of the ninth round, Goldberg appeared to be going more slowly than before, and Youren, who was last of the field, considerably reduced the gap between them in the next few laps., " " j ■' Stopping at the end of the twelfth lap, Sowerby refuelled and got away again, just behind Lockett, and ahead of Moses. Two laps later Lockett came in with a broken counter-shaft. Sowerby, now leading the field, though second in count of time, pulled in at the pit again at the end of the fifteenth lap, refuelled, and started again just as Moses arrived for petrol. Within a quarter of a mile-of finishing the sixteenth lap, Sowerby crashed and was passed by Moses. The handlebars of Sowerby's machine were badly bent, but he picked it up and continued in the race. Turning the judges' corner at the end of the next round he ran up the bank and stalled, but after a short call at the pit to adjust his handlebars he resumed.

At the same time, advice was received by radio that Youren, posted as "missing in the fifteenth lap," had plunged down a bank and dislocated his left shoulder, w,hich was being attended to by a St. John Ambulance officer. His machine was not damaged. Borrowed Machine. The breaking of a push-rod forced Goldberg to retire in his seventeenth lap, when he was the last of the three still riding. Unless a mishap stopped him, Moses was then a- certain winner, Sowerby, the only other survivor, being a full seven minutes behind him, and on a slower machine. Moses could, therefore, afford to go more carefully. Half-way through the last lap, Sowerby's battered mount broke a rocker and stopped dead. Borrowing Youren's Ariel, he finished the race on that, but was disqualified under the rule that states" that a' rider must use the same machine throughout the race.

Moses' time, 31i 13m -0 l-ss, was lm 30 2-5s better-than he did/last year, when he came second to- Mattson, who won- in 3h 11m 58 l-ss. His best lap time was equal to MattsOn's best-last year, but he slowed down in the later laps when he had the race won.