Stace brothers go close

Press, 29 November 1976, Page 23

Stace brothers go close

by

RAY CAIRNS

A »mgle family group has already had overwhelming dominance of one major cycling classic this season —the Wards , In the cash Umaru to Christchurch—and for many of the : 130 km of the Shirley Lodge classic it seemed the Stace brothers would achieve similar I results. But in the end. lan Stace had to settle —again—for second place in the last event of the Canterbury season, and Ills younger brother. John, for third in the race won by an 18-year-old Invercargill rider. Wayne Beckett. 1 it was a much happier return for Beckett than his only pre- ! vious visit to Canterbury racing. ' That was in the junior national ; league series early in the year: ; Beckett crashed in the first stage and took no further part i in the series. it was only thanks to the persuasion of a club-mate and regular v isitor to Canterbury races. Mike Hughes, that Beckett made ■ the trip at all. His was the last entry made, but he had every reason to be satisfied with the bother. His bunch always looked a winning group, even though it had a scratching and was down to ! five by halfway. But once out of the gorges, the result was beyond doubt. At that point, after 78km. Beckett, the two Staces and Lewis Benschop, along with Lionel Bishop, picked up from the front mark along the way. were only 4min away from the leaders. Thev were Roger Prince. Jim Spencer—both veterans—Dave Savage and Nigel Whalley, and a distant smin behind were the best of the much-fancied 23min bunch: Mark Fortune, Nigel Alexander, and Russell Prince, who had rid themselves of their co-markers in the Gientui Gorge. But it was transparently obvious then that even such a solid little trio had no hope of catching Beckett and the Staces. So it proved, as that very solid group kept up to their work

and by the time the race turned on to the Main North Road, the leaders were within their grasp. From that point the main interest was whether fraternal inclinations could succeed against the visitor, and John Stace made his move with a kilometre to ride. lan Stace left It at that and Beckett was forced to chase. But that little effort made no difference to him. and in a desperately-contested sprint, Beckett withstood the challenges of. firstlv John Stace. then lan, who finished rather better than his younger brother. It was only the second time lan Stace had ridden the race—and the first time for the other two —and he was second in 1972 too. On that occasion, it was considerable longer, nearly 200 km, and Stace was a first-year junior with a reputation for favouring long-distance races. But he was caught and passed by the daddy of them all over the long distances. Ross Bush. Bush on Saturday was the member of a very solid break mark which held superiority over a high quality scratch bunch for the majority of the race. For 100 km. it held the latest time honours, sometimes by a minute or more with Kevin Basher a devoted worker. They were helped by the race within a race going on in the scratch bunch. Paul Jesse . having mechanical problems and the pace being of a somewhat uneven nature. But from Woodend to the finish, the break mark lost time hand over fist and Toni Horne continued his magnificent run of successes with another excellent sprint victory for fastest time. 2min better than the first of the 6min riders, Martin Sycamore Hornby club riders won both grades of the Kalapoi centennial races also the final classics of the season for novices, at Tuahlwf vesterdav morning. Brendan Bargot with a very generous handicap, was the easiest of winners of the B grade race, dominated by Hornby riders. They filled the majority of the placlngs. and Bevan Gyde and Vaughan liarier won first and second fastest time places from the other 1 scratch rider, Greg Shepherd. Michael Cummack, who ap-| ' peared to have made too great; an effort early in the race, rode lan excellent final lap to win | the A grade 30km event. Until! Abbreviations used in the results are: Invercargill (I). Papa-| nui iP). Woolston AV), Hornby. (H>, Kalapoi (K). Malrehau (M?.| Rangiora <Ri.

Shirlev t-odge 130 km classic.— W. Beckett d. 31 mini 1, I. E. Stace iP. 31min> 2. J. C. Stace (P. 31mln> 3. Roger Prince fW, 42mln) 4, D. J. Savage fW, 42min) 5, M. Fortune iP. 23mln) 6. N. Alexander AV, 23mln> 7. Russell Prince iP, 23min> 8. N. Whalley (H, 42min) 9. K. Page <P. 31 min) 10. Fastest time: T. R. Horne (P, scr), 3:8:42, 1, C. M. Hogan <P, scr), 3:8:43. 2. D. B. Hewson (P, scr) 3:8:44. 3.

A grade Centennial race. 30km. —M. Cummack <H, Simin) 1. M. Steele (M, scr) 55:05. 2 and fastest time, S. D. Smith (M, scr), 55:05.5. 3 and 2 fastest time, A. P. Fuller (K, 2min) 4. T. D. Gvde iH, scr), 55:07 , 5 and 3 fastest time: P. McEwen fK, 2mln) 6.

B grade Centennial race, 12km. —B. Bargot <H. sjmin) 1, A. Dawson <H, 4Jmin) 2, G. Visser <R, 3Jmin) 3. S. Dawson <H, 31 mln) 4. P. Gardiner (W, 3Smln) 5. M. Thompson (H. 4jmin) 6. Fastest time: B. N. Gyde iH, scr> 18:15, I, V. Harvey (H, scr), 18:18, 2, G. Shepherd (M, scr), 18:17. 3.