Cycling Dalton And Johnston Outstanding In Titles

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28531, 10 March 1958, Page 10

Cycling Dalton And Johnston Outstanding In Titles

(From Our Own Reporter)

PALMERSTON N., March 9. W. Dalton (Auckland) and W. Johnston (Waikato) were the outstanding riders at the Zealand amateur cycling championships which concluded at Palmerston North yesterday. Dalton retained his 1000metre time trial and 4000metre individual pursuit titles. Johnston kept a firm grip on his 500-metre sprint title and regained the 10-mile title he lost to L. P. Lock (Canterbury) last year. Johnston, with A. Stewart, also took the 1000-metre tandem championship. Apart from the 4000metre teams’ pursuit, which was won by Wellington, all the other senior titles went to Dalton and Johnston. Canterbury did better In the junior events when B. Hazeldine and T. Kenny took first and second places respectively in the junior sprint and Kenny finished third in the 5-mile scratch race. In the final of the tandem event. D. Smith and G. Ulmer (Wellington) were leading round the last banking from the Waikato pair. When Waikato began to move forward the Wellington pair rode them up the banking and Waikato protested and a re-run was ordered. In this Waikato completely outclassed Wellington and at the finish the Waikato pair got a hostile reception from a section of the crowd. In a quarter-final of the 500metre sprint against M. McGregor (Auckland). Johnston established a new national record when he lowered the 12.2 seconds time of J. Robertson (Auckland) and R. Ploog (Australia) to 12 seconds. Johnston came through comfortably to the final in the sprints and in this beat A. Walsh (West Coast, North Island) with reasonable ease in two straight sprints. Dalton and Larkins

Dalton was matched against A. Larkins (Otago-Southland) in the final of the 4000 metres individual pursuit. Dalton rode steadily and was slowly gaining on Larkins each lap. He went on to win by 17.6 seconds. When Dalton finished he was only 40 yards short of lapping Larkins. Canterbury and Wellington were matched in a semi-final of the 4000 metre teams pursuit. Canterbury finished third in the qualifying round, but in the semifinal failed badly. Auckland beat Otago-Southland by 5 seconds.

The final between Auckland and Wellington was an exciting one. With three laps to go D. Robinson (Wellington) began to drift back but after another lap he got up to

give his team a little help. At this stage Wellington was leading by about 50 yards. Over the next lap and a half Auckland improved its position. Both teams appeared to flash across the finishing line together but Wellington got the decision by 0.3 seconds. This event was one of the highlights of the championships. The 10-mile scratch race was ridden at a great pace. Larkins was the pacemaker throughout Nearly every second Larkins took the front with great pace to stretch out the field. Dalton went after Larkins but most time* K. Wilbraham (Auckland), did not let him get away.

Going down the back straight Fowler went into the lead. He held on until the front straight when Dalton, with Larkins on his wheel, took over. Over the last 300 yards Johnston came up on the outside very fast to win from Dalton by inches. Dalton’s sprinting ability gave him the win but the honours went to Larkins. Junior Sprint

The final of the 500 metre junior sprint was between Hazeldine and Kenny, of Canterbury. In the first sprint Hazeldine let Kenny take the lead and at the 220 yard mark was a length and a half behind. Going round the last banking Hazeldine produced brilliant speed to win by a half a length. In the second run Hazeldine again gave Kenny the front and just on the 220 yard mark he slipped through on the inside to go on and win by a length. At 15, Hazeldine is the youngest rider ever to win a national junior sprint title. In the following results, the abbreviations used are:—Otago-South-lan<* (0.5.), Waikato (Wai.), Wellington (W.). Auckland (A.), Hawke’S Bay (H. 8. Canterbury (C.), West Coast, North Island (W.C.): — 500 Metres Senior Sprint

Quarter-finals. —A. Walsh (W.C.) beat J. Qakes (Wai.), in 12.7 sec; A. Whyman (A.) beat C. E. Hill (C.), 12.7 sec; B. Kitchen JW.C.) beat T. Morris (A.), 12.5 sec; W. Johnston (Wai.) beat M. McGregor (A.), 12sec (a new record). Semi-Finals.—Johnston beat Kitchen, 12.1 sec; Walsh beat Whyman, 12.7 sec. Final.—Johnston beat Walsh In 12.6 sec in both match races. In the match races for third place, Whyman beat Kitchen, 12.7 sec and 12.5 sec. 4000 Metres Individual Pursuit Semi-finals.—W. Dalton (A.) beat M. McGregor (A.), in smin 41 .Isec; A. Larkins (0.5.) beat N. Ritchie (A.), smin 31.4 sec. Final.—Dalton beat Larkins, *mln For third place, Ritchie beat MoGregor in smin 32.45ec. 1000 Metres Tandem Semi-finals.—G. U. Ulmer and D. Smith (W.) beat Cooper and J. Greener (0.5.), U.ssec; W. Johnston and A. Stewart (Wai.) beat K. Bowater and B. Kitchen (W.C.), 11-Ssee. Final. —Johnston and Stewart beat Ulmer and Smith, 11.3 sec (equals record). For third place, Bowater and Kitchen beat Cooper and Greener in 11.7 sec. 4000 Metres Teams’ Pursuit Semi-finals.—Auckland beat OtagoSouthland, smin 19.2 sec; Wellington beat Canterbury, smin 17.7 sec. Final. —Wellington (D. N. Robinson, A. Wapp, D. Smith, G. Ulmer) beat Auckland (N. Ritchie. R. Johnston. M. McGregor, D. Eagle) in Bmin B.6sec. 10-Mlle Senior Unpaced W. Johnston (Wai.) 1, W. Dalton (A.) 2, A. Larkins (0.5.) 3, G. Cooper (0.5.) 4. Time, 22min 28.8 sec. 500 Metres Junior Sprint Quarter-finals.—T. Kenny (C.) beat R. Wagner (A.), 12.5 sec; G. Booth (A.) beat A. Ganderson (W.C.), 12.6 sec; B. Hazeldine (C.) beat A. Clavis (A.), 12.4 sec: T. Byers (A.) beat D. Hillary (0.5.), 12.7 sec. Semi-finals.—T. Kenny beat Booth, 12.5 sec; Hazeldine beat Byers, 13.8 sec. Final.—Hazeldine beat Kenny, 12.5 sec and 12.7 sec. For third place, Booth beat Byers, 12.8 sec and 17J!sec. Five-mile Junior Unpaced N. Anderson (W.C.) 1, B. Nicholson (Wai.) 2, T. Kenny (C.) 3. Timo, llmin &sec.