CYCLING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 26, 31 January 1934, Page 15

CYCLING.

WITH THE AMATEURS

MANTTKAU CLUB. FIXTURES. Saturday, February 3.—Sports at Auckland Uomain, 2 p.in. Saturday, February 17. —Dominion Championships at Wellington. At the Papatoetoe Club's sports at the local banked track Manukau riders were again prominent. 'Alley accounted for first place in three of the lour events for which they were eligible. The three Dwight brothers were again conspicuous. The two miles handicap was won by Chas. T. Dwight off 200 yds, in 4.31. Chas. is only a junior rider, but he can outsprint most of the senior track men.

Splendid team work has been a feature of the racing of the Dwight brothers, Henry and Les. this year. -Last Saturday they dominated the two.miles scratch race at Papatoetoe. The event was decided on points. The leader at the end of each lap received one point, and the three placed men at the conclusion of the final lap received three, two and one. The race was over 12 laps. Henry took the first, Mai. P. Byrnes the second. Then Jack W. Clark went rapidly into the lead and took the next two, when Les. Dwight shot ahead and collected in the next live. _ In the final sprint Henry Dwight was first, and thereby tied with his brother with five points. The time was not as fast as anticipated. Henry took 4.36 for the two miles. , ■ , Jack W. Clark, in the lap record attempt, clocked the record time of 17 4-ss. His time beat Mai. Byrnes' previous record of 18 l-ss. Byrnes also made an attempt, and was successful in clocking ISs. Byrnes, however, did not seem to be in form on the afternoon, for in the two miles scratch race he dropped back badly after leading at the end of lap two. Old-timer Geo. P. Clark went out to the Ellerslie grass track last Thursday evening and won the "miss and out" event from Roy Arvidson. George also raced at To Awamutu on Monday, but failed to impress. Everyone was pleasantly surprised to learn of Tom G. Sullivan's win at Tβ Awamutu in the half-mile, off 75 yards. He was the only Manukau rider to be placed at the meet.

Advice, which will be welcome to riders, has been received from the City Council to the effect that training on Western Springs Stadium will be permitted on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 5.30 to 7.30 p.m. at a fee of 2/6, which will entitle riders to train on the track up to March 31 next. The Dominion championships are to be held in Wellington on the Basin Reserve on February 16 and 17 next. There is little prospect of the Auckland /Centre being able to conduct its championships in time, so the result of the Manukau Club's championship meeting will carry more weight than was anticipated. The two Dwight brothers, Henry and Les., have certainly earned a trip as Auckland representatives. The Wellington Centre will conduct its championships next Saturday, while Christchurch conducted its Inst Saturday, while Frank J. Grose was at Petone racing in the five miles Laykold Cup handicap and« shorter events.

Next Saturday three open cycle handicaps will be conducted at the Domain grass track. Special interest will be taken in the racing, for it will be the second carnival of the season on the Domain, which now has to civo way to Western Springs as an athletic sports ground.

r AUCKLAND AMATEUR CLUB. The 1934 track season was continued on Saturday with the Papatoetoe Club's annual Transport Cup meeting, when an interesting and varied programme of athletic events provided an excellent afternoon's entertainment. The steeply banked cycle track was iu beautiful condition, and, though quite a strong wind was noticeable on the terraces, it apparently affected the riders little, and fast times were recorded.

A feature of the cycling events was the fact that last year's flying lap record was broken on no less than three occasions. This speaks well for the general improvement in the standard of riding and the condition of the circuit. A. G. Patrick, the club's most outstanding rider, put up his best track performance to date when ho made the initial record breaking run in the flying lap, clocking 17 4-5s for the sixth of a mile lap. Coming down off the banking at the southern end of the track with a tremendous burst of epeed he flashed across the line at a pace not far short of 35 miles per hour, maintaining his effort well to finish with a nicely-timed jump. The average speed works out at 33.7 miles per hour. One get.3 a very good idea of the extra effort required to establish a fresh record in an event of this nature when it is realised that a reduction of two-fifthe of a second, as in the present case, entails an increase of speed of threequarters of a. mile per hour. His wheels were revolving at 400 revolutions per minute, or over six and a half times each second.

In previous seasons on the road Patrick's lack of sprint robbed him of time honours in several open distance events, but he seems to have developed this department of his racing to such an extent that lie may now be regarded as a very serious contender for the forthcoming sprint championships, while on the road again this year he should be able to extend any rider in New Zealand in the finishing sprint. Roy Arvidson finished second in the third heat of the two-mile open event, but was unable to get through in the final. Although rather handicapped by his machine for track work, he is more at home on the road, and last season started off the honours mark in the Auckland Cycling Centre's 46-mile harbour race. W. Crocker won his heat in the half-mile by sheer determination, and struggled over the line to win by inches.

Club members will be pleased to learn that permission has been obtained for the use of the popular Te Atatu circuit, during the coming road season, and a number of riders who inspected the roads recently reported them in excellent though a trifle dusty.