Cycling Championships Abandoned Unfinished

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31317, 13 March 1967, Page 10

Cycling Championships Abandoned Unfinished

(From Our Cycling Reporter) AUCKLAND. For the first time in the long history of the meeting, the New Zealand amateur hard track cycling championships were abandoned without completion at the Western Springs stadium on Saturday evening.

The decision was made at 9 p.m. after further rain, dampening both the track and the already frayed spirits of the competitors, descended in a thick cloud.

It was with considerable relief that riders heard the news because, for three days, they had been running shuttle services between their places of accommodation and the stadium as racing was first on and then off again as the rain returned. Of the events that were actually completed, Canterbury was served well by two of the youngest members of the team, B. G. Stockwell and P. D. Brydon. Stockwell, who until a few weeks ago had not ridden an individual pursuit or kilometre time trial, won medals in both these events. With his now-renowed crushing finish over the final two laps, he stormed away from his Canterbury teammate, S. J. Stephen, to win

by 20 yards, and record the fastest time of the championships. His smin 17sec was ,2sec outside Stephen’s Canterbury junior record and bettered the best senior time at Auckland—by G. F. Wright (Wellington)—by 2.4 sec. This was Stockwell’s best time, and followed his best performance in the time trial, where he was second with Imin 15.5 sec; the 6ft, 13)st New Plymouth champion of several events, J. A. Dean, won in superb fashion with lmin lXBsec. However, the high standards he sets himself left Dean disappointed: he was more interested in approaching lmin 12sec. Brydon turned on two mighty little rides in the boys’ championship events. The strapping Palmerston North boy, L. R. Mildenhall, shot away from the start of the quarter-mile and opened a lead of two lengths. But the flying Brydon pegged hfm, nearly caught on the final bend, and went down by only six inches.

But Brydon’s best ride was probably reserved for the final event before the meeting was

stopped, the second heat of the one mile. Handily placed at the bell, he ran into the guttering on the pole-line at the final bend and appeared to have lost all chance. But he pulled him* self out and over a man-hole, stormed after the leaders and, with a flat front tyre, flew past them about the finishing line. His official placing was fourth —and a doubtful decision in the opinion of most —but it mattered little because a re-run was ordered after the Auckland rider, R. Harland, had switched most of the field all over the track throughout the race, and even in the sprint.

Dean was a commanding and dominant' figure towering over the championships.

His tremendous strength and speed led to the expected victory in the kilometre; he broke J. H. Cleary’s New Zealand record for the five miles when he rode off his fellow West Coast-Nor|h Island rider, M. F. Vertongen, and the' champion, L. G. Booth; and was stronglyfavoured to beat Vertongen in the sprint series that was not completed. The senior teams’ pursuit went, as expected, to Wright and the Wellington senior team also returned the fastest qualifying time. In doing so, it beat a scratch Canterbury combination which performed far better than anyone in the party had possibly hoped for. R. D. Mann and A. J. Hood, predictably, were strong members of the team but the revelation was the form of D. A. Swanston and C. B. J. Fitzgerald.

Swanston rode better and better as the championships progressed, taking hard, strong laps in the teams’ race and reaching the quarter-finals of the sprints. So well and convincingly was he sprinting, that it was generally thought that he, N. F. Joyce (West CoastNorth Island, the defending champion), and P. H. P. Robinson (Southland) would dispute the title.

M. W. Litolff, Canterbury’s first string in the senior sprints, was eliminated in the eighthfinals and Mann and Swanston lost to the eventual winners, Robinson and D. L. Booth, in the tandem reselection final.

The Southland combination out-thought Joyce and G. Bannister in the final, opening a lead of about six lengths with 300 yards to go and never losing any of it. But the most exciting prospects were the juniors from Southland, W. J. Haggerty and R. J. Robinson. These two boys had surplus speed in their final against Auckland and further lowered their own New Zealand record to 11.9 sec.

As far as Canterbury was concerned, however, all the kudos in the end went to the young members of the party as the fates conspired against the health of the seniors. As well as Stockwell, Stephen and

Brydon, G. W. Wood improved in confidence and ability as he progressed through the rounds and he was in the quarter-finals of the junior sprints that were never held.

Eight events were completed —the time trials, individual pursuits and tandems in both grades, the junior five miles and boys’ quarter-mile—and another four started. The only events not started were the glamour event, the senior 10 miles, and the junior, teams’ pursuit. In the following results, abbreviations used are as follows: — Auckland (A.), Waikato (Wai.), East Coast-North Island (E.C.N. 1.), West Coast-North Island (W.C.N.1.), Wellington (W.), Canterbury (C.), Otago (O.), Southland (S.). SENIOR 1000 Metres Tandem (New Zealand record, N. F. Joyce and G. Bannister, W.C.N.1., ll.lsec; title-holders, W. Alnge and G. Hill).—Reselection final: D. L. Booth and P. H. P. Robinson (S.) beat D. A. Swanston and R. D. Mann (C,). 12.4. Semifinals: N. F. Joyce and G. Bannister (W.C.N.1.) beat M. W. and P. Grace (A.), 11.8. Robinson and Booth beat P. J. Cox and E. Chang (W.C.N.1.), 11.7. Final: Robinson and Booth beat Joyce and Bannister, 11.6. Third place: Cox and Chang beat Grace and Grace, 11.9.

4000 Metres Individual Pursuit (New Zealand record, W. D. H. Dalton (A.), 5:4.2; titleholder, T. J. Tabak (C.)).—Final: G. F. Wright (W.), 5:20.2, 1, beat I. Leamon (Wai.), 5: 24.7, 2. D. F. Stowell (W.C.N.1.), 5:25.1, 3, beat J. Anderson (S.), 5:27.9, 4. 500 Metres Sprint (New Zealand record, D. Hillary (O.) and V. L. Newlove (A.), 11.8; title-holder, N. F. Joyce, (W.C.N.l.)).—Eighth-finals: N. F. Joyce (W.C.N.1.) beat H. J. Beere (A.), 12.8. H. J. Kent (W.) beat F. Clavis (A.), 14.2. D. A. Swanston (C.) beat G. Bannister (W.C.N.1.), 13.2. B. Leamon (Wai.) ride-over, 13.7. B. Clearwater (A.) beat M. W. Litolff (C.), 13.7. P. H. P. Robinson (S.) beat G. A. Bing (W.C.N.1.), 13.7. B. F. Goldsworthy (W.) beat B. W. Preston (W.C.N.1.), 13.9. G Crawford (A) beat K. Sparks (E.C.N.1.), 13.6.

4000 Metres Teams' Pursuit (New Zealand record, Olympic squad, W. D. H. Dalton, A. Larkins, D. R. Eagle, N. R. Ritchie, 4:49; title-holder, Canterbury, T. J. Tabak, J. H. Cleary, R. D. Mann, P. A. Skilling).— Qualifying rounds: Auckland B (K. N. Goldsworthy, A. B. Scott, M. W. Grace, P. Grace), 5:1.8, beat West Coast-North Island (S. W. Watts, R. J. Hansen, B. Whale, P. J. Cox), 5:14.5. Southland (R. McKay, J. Anderson, A. J. Ineson, K. J. Henderson), 5:7.8, beat Auckland A (B. Beeston, J. Broome, K. Hill, M. Lapwood), 5:20.7. Wellington (B. F. Goldsworthy, G. F. Wright, H. J. Kent, D. R. Thomson) 4:55.6, beat Canterbury (R. D. Mann, A. J. Hood, D. A. Swanston, C. B. Fitzgerald), 5:4.5. Qualifiers: Wellington, Auckland B, Canterbury and Southland. JUNIOR 1000 Metres Time Trial (New Zealand record, V. L. Newlove (A.), 1:13.6; title-holders, J. A. Dean (W.C.N.1.). —B. Biddle (A.), 1:19.3, M. F. Vertongen (W.C.N. 1.), 1:16.5. G. Croskery (E.C.N. 1:18.7. R. J. Robinson (S.), 1:16.5. G. Penny (O.), 1:24.2. G. J. Lovell (W.C.N.1.), 1:20.3. D. J. Bell (W.C.N.1.), 1:19.2. N. R. Lyster (W.), 1:16.4. B, Pascoe (Wai.), 1:15.8. R. Munn (W.), 1:21. A. J. Griffin (W.), 1:23.6. N. R. Rowlands (W.C.N.1.), 1:18.9. R. Driver (A.), 1:21.4. A. Clinton (W.), 1:15.7, B. G. Stockwell (C.), 1:15.5. P. Godding (O.), 1:22.5. R. J. Maguire (S.), 1:16.6. R. Coker (Wai.), 1:18.7. J. A. Dean (W.C.N.1.), 1:13.8. Platings.—Dean 1, Stockwell 2, Clinton 3. 1000 Metres Tandem (New Zealand record, W. J. Haggerty and R. J. Robinson (S.), 12.0; titleholders, Haggerty and Robinson).—Final: Haggerty and Robinson beat A. Batts and D. McMahon (A.), 11.9 (New Zealand record). Third place: L. Cooper and M. N. Collins (W.) beat B. Pascoe and R. Coker (Wai.), 12.0. 4000 Metres Individual Pursuit (New Zealand record, D. A. Comparind (W.), 5:11.7; titleholder, Comparini).—Final: B. G. Stockwell (C.), 5:17, 1; beat S. J. Stephen (C.), 5:19.6, 2. R. J. Maguire (S.), 5:30.8, 3, beat N. R. Rowlands (W.C.N.1.), 5:31.4, 4. Five Miles (New Zealand record, J. H. Cleary (C.), 10:39; title-holder, L. O. Booth (S.) J. A. Dean (W.C.N.1.) 1. M. F. Vertongen (W.C.N.1.) 2, L. O. I Booth (individual) 3. Time, 10:38.8. (New Zealand record). 500 Metres Sprint (New Zealand record, V. L. Newlove (A.), 12.0; title-holder, M. F. Vertongen (W.C.N.1.). —Eighth-finals: A. Batts (A.) beat G. Humphries (S.), 13.7. G. W. Wood (C.) beat H. Savimaki (W.C.N.1.), 13.4. N. R. Lyster (W.) beat B. Pascoe (Wai.), 13.7. D. McMahon (A.) beat R. Coker (Wai.), 14.1. L. Cooper (W.), ride-over, 14.4. J. A. Dean (W.C.N.1.) beat A. A. Pavield (C.), 12.4. M. F. Vertongen beat W. J. Haggerty (S.), 13.6. A. Clinton (W.) heat S. J. Stephen (W.), 13.9. BOYS Quarter-mils (new Zealand record, J. A. Dean (W.C.N.1.), 30.0; title-holder, A. A. Paviell (C.).— L. R. Mildenhall (W.C.N.1.) 1, P. D. Brydon (C.) 2, E. Thurlow (S.) 3. Time, 31.5. One Mile (New Zealand record, N. Crafer (W.), 1:9.3; titleholder, M. Hoiswich (W.C.N.1.). —Heat one: L. R. Mildenhall (W.C.N.1.) 1, D. Palatchie (W.) 2, J. Biddle (A.) 3. Time, 2:11.6. Heat two: M. Bird (W.C.N. 1.) 1, R. Harland (A.) 2, A. Walker (Wai.) 3. Time, 2:24.8. Re-run ordered but not held.