Crash upsets stars

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34084, 23 February 1976, Page 7

Crash upsets stars

f By

RAY CAIRNS

Blair Stockwell and Paul Jesson, the outright I favourites, won the Can-1 terbury lOOkm Madison cycling championship at Jlenton Park on Satur- 1 day in spite of crashing hadly with each other at the 24km mark.

For a disturbing quarter- ; hour, it seemed that the crash had ruined the chances of ' Stockwell and Jesson and it would have been a cruel fate for the outstanding combination in the wind-blown 250lap marathon. At the time of th* crash, after I*o laps, Stockwell and Jesson I were a lap ahead of most of the Held and were about 3UOm on the way to taking another lap out of the main bunch. But just as thev were a mere XOOm away from making the race safe, they crashed during a change, both suffering some abrasions and wrecked front wheels. Neither riders nor machines were fit to ride within four laps — th* statutory period of grace after mechanical problems — and by the time Jesson got mobile again, with a cut on his

head, his team had lost the lap advantage it held. Tills appeared particularly serious as the closest challengers. Frank Schaapveld and Ivan Steele, were 15 points ahead of Stockwell and Jesson and, it seemed, needed only to stay in the same lap for victory. FIVE-TEAM RACE But there was no stopping the Olympic Games nominees. Before the next series of sprints, they attacked again and forced their way clear, picking up valuable

sprint points and, ultimately and even more valuably, retrieving the lap they had lost while off the track. Stockwell and Jesson took their ■ first lap advantage at exactly the I half-way point, although it took i them another 20 laps to catch the dogged Schaapveld and : Steele. Basically. It was a fiveteam race, Paul Brydon and Graham Day eventually losing 12 laps. The teams in the same lap as Schaapveld and Steele were Chris Hogan and Mick Litolff, and Kevin Basher and Craig Hawtin. The junior team of Kim Reid and Toni Home would probably have been with them except that when Reid needed a wheel change, Horne continued trying to stay with the field as a oneman team instead of taking a four-lap break. The novice team of Garry Monk and Tony Duder was clearly too good for Its opposi-

tlon In the 40km event. They only took at least a lap out of every team but Duder also won the first seven points sprints. CRASH WHILE CHANGING

Even had Duder and Monk not got their lap advantage on Jim Tabak and Shane Smith — and three laps or more on all the other teams — they would have won with their huge points tally. Gary Radburn and Jeffrey Elliott were a meritorious third and three teams sharing fourth place were separated only on their points’ tallies. One of the best efforts from this trio was by the inexperienced pair of Terry Gyde and Paul Avis, who stayed with the rest although also having a crash while changing. Results:—

Amateur, 100 km.—B. G. Stockwell and P- A. Jesson, 250 laps, 55 points, 1; F. M. Schaapveld and I. R. Steele, one lap down, 59, 2; M. W. Litolff and C. M. Hogan, one lap down, 32, 3; C. D. Hawtin and K. P. Basher, one lap down, 18, 4; K. W. Reid and T. R. Horne, two down, 26, 5; P. D. Brydon and G. J. Day, 12 down, 9, 6. Time, 2:22:12. Novice, 40km. —G. R. Monk and A. Duder, 100 laps. 48 points, 1; J. Tabak and S. D. Smith, one lap down. 21, 2; K. W. Radburnd and J. Elliott, three down, 7,3; M. Steele and G. Sutherland, four down, 21, 4; A. J. Strang and J- Hotne, four down, 14, 5; P. Avis and T. Gyde. four down, 8. 6.