ROAD CYCLING

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 232, 30 September 1944, Page 5 (Supplement)

ROAD CYCLING

» GAMBLE'S MANUKAU WIN Further Successes Of Scratch [ Riders I T ONG races were the order of the *-*. day last Saturday, when Manu- ' kau held one of 54 miles, Papatoetoe--1 Northern combined over 42 miles, ' and Lynndale held its club championship over 35 miles. The percentage of finisliers was creditably high, a fact which augurs well for the 100-mile races next Saturday. Manukau's Acton Cup race promises to become the biggest event on the club's calendar. Even though the 54-mile course was a thorough test of stamina and sustained speed— a strong west wind further added •to the difficulties —only one, L. C. ■ Coates, retired. He was really harshly .treated with 5.0, giving starts to Irideis like Walker, Aulick, Darring|ton and Saunders, whom he had never beaten. The winner, M. T. Gamble, has every reason to believe that a post entry has quite a psychological effect lon a handicapper, and in the last : moment excitement he received 13.0 : start. He thus started off with j utmost confidence, for he won the Picknell Cup off 5.45 over 25 miles. I Nevertheless he rode with rare judg'ment and employed tactics that the experience of years have taught him ' rarely fail. He started off at so leisurely a pace that the 9.0 group, Weber, Nash and Purdom, had caught his bunch after ten miles. Before 20 miles he had been overhauled by two other groups and was in the midst of 12 riders. Nursing his energies on the home run. he was able to flash to the front with his big top gear on the wind-assisted Mt. Wellington highway and stall off Ashton, Walker and Aulick.

For team work over the final half G. W. Ashton, J. I. Walker and D. S. Aulick deserve praise, for it was their combined efforts which enabled them to get away from the big bunch. They filled the next places after Gamble. For 40 miles V. A. Hills (scr) had practically an unpaced ride, yet he was able to overhaul Rattray and Tetley (2.30) and finish with them to be fastest in 2 hours 31 minutes 5S seconds, his seventh to date. He started off with A. W. Stonex and R. W. Cleal but soon rode away from both. Record Equalled Highlight of the Lynndale Club's 35-mile championship was .T. H. G. Hill's first and fastest. Hill thus equalled Foublsters 1331 record of 18 fastests. S. W. Sargent, of the Northern Club, has gone from victory to victory in the past month, during which he has had three wins. He teamed from scratch with J. E. Ludlam and D. P. Pullan, and at 30 miles shared the lead with the latter pair and A. M. J. Keith (6.0). The four battled out for the placings in a finish into the wind. Restraining his sprint until the final chain, he flashed past Pullan and Ludlam to be first and fastest in 1 hour 57 minutes 25 seconds, good time on such a day. Ludlam was again a tower of strength to his group, while Pullan rode splendidly for a junior. The North Island and Auckland Provincial 100-mile - titles will be at stake next Saturday, when the eleventh annual 100-mile event will be decided over the Papakura-Ngaruawahia-Papakura course, for which J. Brown holdr. the record at 4 hours 28 minutes 25 seconds, done in 1937. Transport for Manukau riders has been arranged to leave Newmarket at 8.30 a.m., and the first riders are scheduled to leave at 10 J a.m.