CANTERBURY WINS CYCLING CONTEST

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32788, 13 December 1971, Page 23

CANTERBURY WINS CYCLING CONTEST

Finishinfl off the evening with a grand flourish, in which M. W. Litolff led his team to the first three placings, in what was certainly the finest 10*mile ride of his career, Canterbury on Saturday proved itself the premier cycling province in the South Island. The home team beat Southland and Otago by wide margins in the annual triangular meeting at English Park; and four novices won further honours for Canterbury when they staved off a spirited Otago challenge to win their particular triangular meeting as well. Although Canterbury scored consistently and heavily in the j early rounds, so many points; hung on the 10 mile finale thati it was possible for Southland to; overtake the leader. This made it imperative for Canterbury to have at least two in the first six! placings, for preference in the.’ first four. But that was all forgotten as Litolff, in a finish dominated by red and black jersies, led R. E. Knight and P. D. Brydon to the finishing line, and ensured Canterbury would increase its lead to 17 points. It was an exceptionally absorbing event as Southland, in particular, sent men out the front on tests of strength. But with D. L. Hubbard and Litolff. particularly, covering well, and' A. D. Morris a counter-attacker; at the finish, no clear break ever; threatened. Lltolff’s defensive work was l the additional feature which • made this his finest scratch race; win. And as he said afterwards,! he had the Southland captain ,

and international, J. W. Adams, to thank as well. After Morris had taken the majority of the team up and prevented the threat of a break, Adams took Litolff through the bell, beautifully positioned on his wheel. From there, it was almost a simple matter to come off the wheel and coast in.

But Knight and Brydon had come from nowhere, too, to litolff’s obvious gratification. Knight flew round the outside with a tremendous finishing burst, and Brydon was no less impressive as he fought through a small gap on the inside.

I Canterbury had a similar dominance in the first category of I the one mile scratch races. All j four Canterbury riders were near the back at the bell, but positioned on each others’ wheels, L. M. Vette at the head. Then Vette went in a powerful take 'and Brydon first, Knight second land Litolff fourth were the end results of his effort. Only E. J. C. Barker (Southland), the national junior road champion and no less an impressive sprinter on the track, prevented an absolute Canterbury domination again. There was less satisfaction for Canterbury in the other mile event, though. M. D. Payne, its best nope to win, withdrew soon after the start with mechanical [trouble, but J, H. Sullivan still looked handily placed as Morris ! led them out. But as J. B. Wilki inson (Otago) and the SouthlandJers moved in the back straight, Sullivan stayed where he was, I and could salvage only fourth ifor a single point. Litolff and Knight won their i sprints, in some comfort—though Knight was forced to draw on all his tactical ability to overcome Barker and D. Hillary (Otago)—while Payne was second. Vette lost his chance when he went on the grass in the back straight. Hubbard had to reveal all his fighting qualities in the doubleharness pursuit he rode with Brydon. He started to weaken in the last lap and a half—when Brydon actually rode away a little—but battled on gamely and the pair won by a reasonable margin. Morris and Sullivan also won very well, by 30 yards. The two mile was the only major win by Southland, when Barker came through the inside very fast and late, to just pip Vette, whose best performance it was. Litolff’s third kept Canterbury at a safe distance from Southland, and set the stage for the 10 mile race. Although Bridgeman was certainly the outstanding competitor in the boys’ events, Canterbury had too much all-round depth for the other two teams. This was best evidenced in the . quarter-mile race when, although Bridgeman was the winner, the ■ entire Canterbury team filled : four of the six places in the i final. And as K. L. Day, A. J. Bruce 1 and L R. Steele took the minor i places behind Bridgeman, Can- ; terbury started healthily. The fourth member of the team, P. Yaxley, had already earned two . points when he won his heat by i a clear margin. • The series was decided in the closest event of the night, the i Italian pursuit, however. Less 1 than 2sec covered the three teams and Day had to fight on 1 grimly to hold off the two fast- 1 finishing teams from the south- 1 ern provinces. Although Bridgeman and B. W. J Stenning were first and third in 5 the mile and a half, Bruce challenged strongly and took second ( and I. R. Steele’s fighting on for (

fifth gave Canterbury the final point and victory by three points. In the supporting events, B. G. Stockwell won the two-mile very well after leading out, and R. M. G. A. Hyde was under 30sec for the quarter-mile in a very impressive win. S. P. White dominated the major novice races, outsprinting the fields to win both the quarter-mile and the “devil take the hindmost,” in his best night of the season.

Results of the triangular meetings were:— OPEN

One mile scratch.—Group A: P. D. Brydon (C.) 1, R. E. I&ilght (C.) 2, E. J. C. Barker (S.) 3, M. W. Litolff (C.) 4. Time, 2?5.9. Group B: J. B. Wilkinson (O.) 1, R. J. McKay (S.) 2, W. Young (S.) 3, J. H. Sullivan (C.) 4. Time, 2:0.7.

i 500 metres sprints.—Litolff beat K. J. Tait (O.) and J. W. . Adams (S.), 13.5. Wilkinson beat i T. Young (S.) and L. M. Vette . (C.), 13.2; E. H. Thurlow (S.) I beat M. D. Payne (C.) and D. , W. Leebody (O.), 13.8: Knight beat Barker and D. Hillary (0.), 13.7. 2000 metres double-harness pursuits. —Race one: Brydon ana D. L. Hubbard (C.) 1, B. D. and K. J. Thomson (O.) 2, McKay and B. H. Richardson (S.) 3. Time, 2:40.1. Race two: A. D. Morris and Sullivan (C.) 1, P. C. Goding and R. Simpson (O.) 2. D. L. Adam and W. Young (S.) 3. Time, 2:42.3. Two miles scratch.—Barker 1, Vette 2, Litolff 3, T. Young 4, Goding 5. Time, 4:10.2. 10 miles scratch.—Litolff 1, Knight 2, Brydon 3, Barker 4, T. Young 5, Mcfcay 6. Time, 22:34.1. BOYS Quarter-mile scratch. Heat one: R. D. Bridgeman (O.) 1, K. L. Day (C.) 2, A. J. Bruce (C.) 3. Time, 32.3. Heat two: P. Yaxley (C.) 1, I. R. Steele (C.) 2, G. Gaiger (O.) 3. Time, 33.6. Final: Bridgeman 1, Day 2, Bruce 3, Steele 4. Time. 32.8. Italian pursuit. Canterbury (Day, Bruce, Yaxley, Steele) 1, Southland (E. Patterson, R. Bugden, B. Croft, B. Hunt) 2, Otago (B. W. Stenning, Bridgeman, Gaiger, M. Campbell) 3. ’Hme, 2:9.9. One mile and a half scratch.— Bridgeman 1, Bruce 2, Stenning 3, Patterson 4, Steele 5. Time, 3:38. Points.—Open: Canterbury, 43, 1; Southland, 26, 2; Otago. 13, 3. Boys: Canterbury, 18, 1; Otago, 15, 2; Southland, 4, 3. Supporting events resulted:— AMATEUR Open two miles scratch.—B. G. Stockwell 1, P. L. Paviell 2, A. A. Paviell 3. Time, 4:37.9. A grade quarter-mile handican. —R. M. G. A. Heyde (syd) 1, P. L. Paviell (syd) 2, J. R. Campbell i (30yd) 3. Time, 29.8. B grade 1J miles groupings.— L. Benschop (25yd) 1, L. Bishop i (150 yd 2, A. A. Bouterey (15Qyd) 3. Time, 3:35.1. NOVICE A grade quarter-mile handicap. —S. P. White (10yd) 1, G. R. Sib- • ley (10yd) 2, A. C. Bates (25yd) 3. Time, 32.8. 1 A grade “devil take the hindmost.”—White 1, Sibley 2. L E. Stace 3. B and C grades 13 miles 1 groupings—D. J. Riley (80yd) 1, P. R. Richens (80yd) 2, P. G. 1 Eder (80yd) 3. Time, 3:48.3. 1 C grade quarter-mile.—J. C. Stace (20yd) 1, G. W. Eder (30yd) 2, P. G. Eder (Syd) 3. Time, 35.9. I B grade half-mile—K. W. Reid : (45yd) 1, Richens (70yd) 2, Riley (70yd) 3. Time, 67.5.