CYCLING Canterbury Has Easy Win Over Otago-Southland

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28821, 16 February 1959, Page 17

CYCLING Canterbury Has Easy Win Over Otago-Southland

The annual representative fixture between Canterbury and OtagoSouthland was held at English Park on Saturday evening before a small crowd. Canterbury won by 27 points to two, but the riders from Dunedin were riding under a great disadvantage. AU their racing has to be done on the road except when they are able to go to Invercargill. Tn the sprints, lack of training in these . events showed up and N. Howell was the only southern rider to meet success. ’ The Canterbury riders in the one mile scratch race were too strong for the' visitors and filled the first three places, a. In the teams* face. . Canterbury gained in the first lap, but in the second Otago-Southland bridged the gap and gained a small lead, Canterbury gained in the next four laps to be 40 yards up, but a spirited ride in the next lap by, the visitors reduced the lead to 20 yards. This last lap took its toll of G. Evans (Otago-Southland). Canterbury went Into a lead again bn the next lap, but this wss reduced ip the next. In the tait- lap, Canterbury rode strongly and improved to win by 60 yards. G,'Bremner (Qtago-South-land) rode well in this event, and it

was unfortunate that the other riders could not go with him, and he was forced to restrain his speed at.times. . I - : >' - 1 ’ Rough Race \ The 10-miles scratch race was the roughest race oh the track, for many years, and the riders, were' lucky there was.not a bad accident. The Otago-Southland riders really made the race. Bremnej*. J. Holloway, D. Hillary, W. Hoffman, and N. HoweU (Otago-Southland) were the riders who showed up most of the time, with Holloway, Bremner and Howell doing the best. Howell, after eight Taps, opened up a big gap when entering the top banking and when riding high he saw the others were making no attempt to , go after him so snaked back down on to the track to carry on, but ' took too sharp an angle, slipped and ’ fell heavily. Holloway was the one who made . most of the dashes but every time ' he went out J. Beere (Canterbury) went after him and stayed on his 1 wheel. Otago-Southland wanted to make • arace of it, but the Canterbury riders resorted to stalling tactics throughout.

Five southern riders were level at the bell but they did not fan the track enough to prevent the fasimoving Canterbury riders from going round them and in a desperate sprint for the line T. Kenny and L. Lock (Canterbury) did the best to get up for first and second, with Hoffman taking third place. Some good cash events were seen during the evening. Abbreviations used in the following results are: Otago-Southland (0.5.), Canterbury (C.)

Amateur Representative 500 Metre Sprints.—R. Fowler (C.) beat G. Evans (0.5.). Time, 13.5 sec. J. Beere (C.) beat J. Holloway (O.S). Time, 14J2sec. Brettell (C.) beat W. Hoffman (0.5.). Time, 13.5 sec N. Howel] (0.5.) beat P. Huxford (C.). Time, 13.5 sec. T. Weir (C.) beat C. Bremner (0.5.). Time, 13.5 rec. G. McMullan (C.) beat B. Hardie (0.5.). Time, 14.4 sec. L. Lock (C.) beat G. Jarvis (O.S ). Time, 14sec. T. Kenny (C.) beat D. Hillary (0.5.). Time, 13.6 sec. One Mile Scratch.—T. Kenny (C.) 1, T. Weir (C.) 2, J. Beere (C.) 3. Time, 2min 10.5 sec.

5000 Metre Teams’ Pursuit.—R. Fowler, L. Lock, B. Brettell, G. McMullan (C.) beat G. Evans, C. Bremner, J. Holloway, D. Hillary (0.5.). Time, smin Msec. 10 Mile Scratchy—X. Kenny (C.> 1/ L. Lock (C.) 2, W: Hoffman (OJS.) 3. Time, 23mln 4.6 sec. Handicap Events Quarter-mile Handicap.—First heat:, B. Cook (20yds) 1. P. Wood (35yds> 2, R. Elliott (40yds) 3. Time, 29.4 sec. Second heat: W. Smith (45yds)

I, J. Swanston (40yds)' 2, C. Hibberd (3Syds) 3. Time, 29.65ec. Final: Hibberd 1, Wood 2, Swanston 3. Time, 29.45ec. Half-mile Handicap.—First heat: J. Swanston (80yds> 1. B. Hazeldine

(syds) 2. C. Hibberd (70yds) 3. Time. 57.55ec. Second heat: R. Elliott (80yds) 1, B. Cook (40yds) 2, W. Smith (90yds) 3. Time, 58.8 sec. Final: Elliott 1, Smith 2, Cook 3. Pime, 60sec. Two Mile Scratch.—B. Hazeldine 1, R. Bush 2, B. Cook 3. Time, 4min 28sec. Quarter-mile Novice Handicap.—P. Clemence (65yds) 1, R. Mann (45 yds) 2, R. Bush (45yds) 3. Time, 30.6 sec. Half-mile Handicap.—P. Clemence (150yds) 1. R- Bush (90yds) 2, R. Mann (90yds) 3. Time, 59.55ec. Cash Events Two-lap Handicap.—K. Kerr (35 yds) 1, B. Leatham (55yds) 2. J. Cummings (85yds) 3. Time, 57.65ec. Four Lap Handicap.—K. Brown (scr) 1, B. Leatham (105yds) 2, J. Williams (45yds) 3. Time, 2min 4.Bsec. Ten-lap Scratch.—K. Brown 1, J. Williams 2, K. Kerr 3. Time. smin 56.25ec.

N.Z. GRASS TRACK TITLES W. Johnston Dominates Senior Events (New Zealand Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, February 15. In spite of a surprise defeat in the three miles, the Olympic Games representative Warren Johnston (Waikato) dominated the New Zealand grass track cycling championships at Stratford yesterday. Johnston simply played with the fields in the halfmile and mile events. He qualified for the finals as he pleased and then won the finals convincingly. In the three-mile event he found himself against the strong Auckland team of R. Johnston, M. McGregor and G. Wilson, who virtually controlled the race . from the start to finish. Johnston found an opening at the 220 yd mark and flew after the leaders round the last bend, but the three northerners gave him little chance of getting through. To start with the track .was dead, making it hard for riders to come

successfully from the back with a strong finishing* burst at the end. A shower in the afternoon held up the events and made the grass slipSery and dangerous. An hour after le rain finished the track dried out and, although still slow, proved much safer. ■ Auckland riders dominated the Junior events. They filled all three Places in the half-mile and gained first and third in,the two miles.