STOCKWELL WINS CRITERIUM

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31785, 16 September 1968, Page 10

STOCKWELL WINS CRITERIUM

The pre-race favourite, B. G. Stockwell (Papanui), completed a clean sweep of criteriums in Canterbury when he won the halfhour “Avon on Cameras Criterium” in Papanui on Saturday.

Stockwell finished a clear points leader from G. R. Sword (Avon), although he was not with the bunch in the final two sprints. Negotiating a bend in the tight circuit bounded by Windemere Road, St James Avenue and Dalriada Street, Stockwell’s pedal hit the road and his foot came out of the clip. By the time he was properly in action again, the bunch was well gone.

Stockwell and Sword were by far the dominant riders, and the most consistent They scored 55 and 43 points respectively; R. K. Anderson (Papanui) was third with 20 points, and he completed only nine of the 24 laps before coming to grief in a minor crash. For the benefit of the television cameras, which were televising live a road cycling race in New Zealand for the first time, some importance was attached to the final sprint. However, this was anti-climatic as J. I. Ryder (Timaru), insignificant throughout, broke away for the last two laps to win, and P. D. Brydon (Papanui), the winner of the bunch sprint for second, had also been quite inconspicuous.

Stockwell’s sheer consistency of sprinting gave him his third win in three criteriums held in Canterbury this season. Sword, though not winning one sprint, was—like Stockwell—placed in 19. M. R. Hawkins (Avon) held off a late challenge from a club-mate, J. W. Beresford, to win the B grade race, also of a half-hour. Hawkins dominated the early part of the race—including four straight wins—but Beresford took off after about half the time and won seven successive sprints,

including the last, which carried double points. However, Hawkins edged out R. M. Fowler (Avon) for third in the last dash for the necessary points to win. L. Benschop (Papanui), especially consistent in the later stages, was third.

Although disqualified from the final sprint for using too much of the road, R. E. Knight was an easy winner of the boys’ race. He won the first seven sprints (equal with P. F. Neale in one of them) and was placed in all the rest to achieve his winning total. K. D. Wapp broke

away in an effort to overhaul Neale, falling just short.

The other boys’ race was absolutely dominated by a group of four: B. and R. Reid, R. W. Bayly and P. Robinson, and between them scored all but one point allocated. R. Reid, although not winning one sprint —these all went to B. Reid and Bayly—had a reward for consistency with a narrow win from Bayly, who followed Beresford’s example in breaking away.

Abbreviations used in the results are Papanui (P), Avon (A), and Timaru (T).

A grade, half-hour.—B. G, Stockwell (P.), 55, 1; G. R Sword (A.), 43, 2; R. K. Ander son (P.), 20, 3; J. I. Ryder (T.), 18, 4; A. J. Hood (T.), 17, 5.

B grade, half-hour.—M. R. Hawkins (A.), 49. 1; J. W. Beresford (A.), 48, 2: L. Benschop (P.), 30, 3; R. M. Fowler (A.) and S. Keys (A.), each 22, equal Boys A grade, ISmin.—R. E. Knight, 37i. 1; P. F. Neale. 22J. 2; K. D. Wapp, 21, 3; J. P. Mullan, 15. 4; A. V. Barford, 14, 5. Boys B grade, 15mln.—R. Reid, 34, 1; R. D. Bayly, 32. 2; B. Reid, 30, 3: P. Robinson, 23, 4.