44-Year-Old Wins Main Cycling Race

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31866, 19 December 1968, Page 18

44-Year-Old Wins Main Cycling Race

The 44-year-old J. Williams produced a splendid final sprint to win the two-mile handicap cash race for the Hope Gibbons Cup, the feature event of the track cycling at English Park last evening.

With half-a-mile remaining it became obvious that the backmarkers would not catch the higher handicapped group, and Williams (off 95 yards), biding his time perfectly, burst away on the inside of the track to win comfortably from M. W. Woolford and L. Vette.

Considering the cool conditions, which have persisted at almost all of the night meetings, the time of 4min I.Bsec was a good one. However, the liability of the scratch riders to chase hard from the outset ruled out any chance of the New Zealand cash record of 3min 53.95ec being broken. The backmarkers, J. H. Cleary and A. O’Hagan, caught! the other danger men after} only one lap but instead of forcing the pace they were content to wait. Finally they lost their chance of overhauling the front group. Williams has been riding for about 29 years and his finishing sprint has been one of the hardest to beat. All-round Ability B. G. Stockwell demonstrated that he is developing into an all-rounder of considerable class when he beat the Canterbury sprint champion, M. W. Litolff, in the final of the amateur one-mile handicap race for the Percy Cole Memorial Cup. Litolff looked the most dangerous as he sprinted to thet front with about 100 yards to go but Stockwell, forced high and four-wide, came round the outside with amazing speed to flash past Litolff.

In the final event of the evening, Litolff avenged his earlier defeat by narrowly winning the amateur open five-mile scratch. Apart from this win, Litolff did not have a happy evening. He punctured twice and he appeared to be easing up in the Percy Cole final.

The Dunedin rider. C. McNaught. was a disappointment in the Hope Gibbons race but he produced something closer to his best form when he came almost from nowhere to finish second to Cleary in the five-mile open scratch race for cash riders. The cycling at English Park will resume on January 15. Results: AMATEUR Handicap B Grade Quarter-mile.—Heat 1 1: A. V. Barford (20yds) 1. G. Hansen (20yds)' 1. G. V. Neale (10yds) 3. Time: 30.7. Heat 2: i J. Mullan (25yds) 1, A. Stewart I (25yds) 2, G. Duncan (20yds) 3. Time: 30.7. Final: Mullan 1,1 Hansen 2, Duncan 3. Time: 31.0. Percy Cole Memorial Cup, One Mile.—Heat 1: Hansen (180yds) I, R. Galbreath (150yds) 2, N. J. S. Smith x (150yds) 3. Time: 2:2.5. Heat 2: Mullan (170yds) 1, Barford (180yds) 2, Neale (170yds) 3. Time: 2:1.3. Final: B. G. Stockwell (scr.) 1, M. W. Litolff (scr.), 2. P. A. Skilling (45yds) 3. Time: 2:0.5. Scratch A Grade Quarter-mile, Heat 1: R. K. Anderson 1, Skilling 2. P. D. Brydon 3. Time: 31.0. Heat 2: Stockwell 1. P. Frisken 2, D. M. Dixon 3. Time: 32.5. Final: Stockwell 1. Brydon 2, Frisken 3. Time: 32.3. B Grade.—One-and-a-half-mile: N. Smith 1, Mullan 2, Duncan 3. Time: 3:27.6. A Grade.—22oyds sprint: Dixon beat G. A. Smith. Time: 14.4. A Grade.—ltalian pursuit: Papanui (Stockwell, Brydon, P. R. Wildermoth, B. R. Chisholm) 1, Avon (Litolff, Skilling. Frisken, Anderson) 2. Time: 2:0.9 and 2:5.0. Open Five Mile.—Litolff I, Stockwell 2, Frisken 3. Time: 11:42.6. NOVICE Handicap B Grade Half Mile.—Heat 1: M. Slade (40yds) 1, P. Jesson (scr) 2, P. Knight (90yds) 3. Time: 66.1. Heat 2: R. Reid (25yds) 1, B. Roulston (15yds) 2, K. Day (80yds) 3. Time: 68.5. Final: Slade 1, Roulston 2, Jesson 3. Time: 66.5. A Grade.—One mile: P. Robinson (160yds) 1. C, Tabak I

(100yds) 2, J. Blake (lOOvds. 3 Time: 2:9.1. Open Quarter-mile (scratch heats). —Heat 1: R. E. Knight 1 K. D. Wapp 2. Time: 32.2. Hear 2; R. Parnell I, Blake 2. Tim<32.9. Heat 3: Robinson 1. G Hubbard 2. Time: 33.9. Heat 4: G. Crabbe 1. Jesson 2. Time 33.6. Heat 5: M. Maxwell 1. p Knight 2. Time: 36.5. Final: R. E. Knight (scr) 1. Crabbe (55yds) 2, Slade (55yds) 3. Time; 30.1. Scratch. —R grade threequarter mile: D. Hubbard 1. P. Radburnd 2. Jesson 3. Time: 1:44.4. C grade half-mile: P. Court 1. Day 2. P. Knight 3. Time; 78.5. A grade devil-take-the-hindmost: R. E. Knight 1. Wapp 2. P. L. Paviel! 3. Time: 5:34.0. Cash Handicap.—Open one mile: L. Vette (145 yd 1. M. W. Woolford (155 yd 2. R. Archer (185 yd 3. Time: 1:58.8. B grade and colts half-mile: D. N. McEvoy (scr) 1. Woolford <2svd> 2, Archer <3syd) 3. Time:. 63.7 Hope Gibbons Cup two-mile: J. Williams (295 yd 1. Woolford (305 yd 2, Vette (295vd) 3. Time: 4:1.8. Scratch. —A grade devil-take the-hindmost: B. W. Yaxley 1. J. H. Cleary 2. G. Moore . 3. Time: 4:47.7. Open five-mile: Cleary 1. C. McNaught 2. F. R. Cooper 3. Time: 11:19.0. Schoolboys Handicap. Quarter-mile— Race 1: J. McCormick (scr) 1 A. Kearney (10yd) 2. Time: 45.5. Race 2: Kearney (scr) 1. T. McCormick (15yd) 2. Time: 46.4.