Notable absentees from cycling championships

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33778, 26 February 1975, Page 14

Notable absentees from cycling championships

(By I

R. M. CAIRNS)

The erosions into the top level of track cycling have been more serious than for any ; other sport which formed part of the Christchurch Commonwealth Games. Thirteen months after the Games, only two meml)ers of the track team are left to compete in the national championships, which start at Levin tomorrow.

The survivors are Blair Stockwell and Jacob Schriek, and they are probably the two most obvious favourites to retain the individual titles they won at the last national championships, the 4000 m indi-

vidual pursuit and kilometre time trial respectiveiv.

They also have very fair chances in their team events — Stockwell the team pursuit, Schriek on

the tandem with Lester Vette — and additional successes there would propel Canterbury towards retaining the Points Shield. It must be many years since the national championships were so devoid, comparitively, of familiar names. Paul Brydon, Rene Heyde, John Dean, Phil Harland and Bryce Preston, of the Games team, have all retired, and so have Harry Kent and Robert Oliver, nominated but not selected. Russell Nant is riding in the cash code, and Paul Medhurst is overseas. But it is still difficult to imagine this being a poor championship meeting.

There is a solid core of promising young men, good performers as juniors, forcing its way into national recognition. This is particularly so with the major challengers to Stockwell and Schriek. Apart from his own teammates, the biggest threat to Stockwell is probably John Swart, (Waikato) who did a smin 15sec pursuit at Wanganui on Saturday evening. Stockwell has as his supporting team Bruce Ramsay, who must be a very strong prospect for a place in the final, and Paul Jesson, as well as Kevin Basher, the junior who is trying to maintain Canterbury’s record of having provided the best under-18-year-old since 1967. Schriek’s biggest threat, it seems, will be Michael Fabish (West Coast-North Island) who was fourth last year in Imin 13.445ec — only a whisker away from Dean and the bronze medal. Before Christmas, Fabish did a Imin 12.7 sec ride, a tenth of a second better than Schriek did in the Canterbury championships. The senior sprints are invariably exciting, and this year should be no exception. Canterbury has Schriek, second last year, Michael Litolff, with his long and excellent record, and Gary Sword, the provincial champion and a worthy one. West Coast-North Island also has a handy team: it must be good if Max Vertongen can be only fourth seed. Fabish, again, is that centre’s leading hope, particularly in the absence of Terence Watson, his successor as national junior champion, who is injured. The junior sprints are just as open, perhaps more so, with the prospect of Anthony Cuff (W.C.N.1.) and Frank Schaapveld (Canterbury) continuing their battles of a year ago, when Cuff emerged triumphant. As usual, it is extremely difficult to predict anything from the boys’ races with any dregree of certainty, but Alan Burney (Wellington) and Roger Songhurst (East CoastNorth Island) are spoken of very highly in the North Island. Jim Tabak is the leading Canterbury hope, but Paul Flattery continues to make strides, and both Gary Radburnd and Tony Duder, in the 500 m, and Gary Monk in the 2000 m, have some good performances behind them.