N.Z. cyclist ‘fantastic’

Press, 7 August 1978, Page 17

N.Z. cyclist ‘fantastic’

NZPA staff correspondent Edmonton

The New Zealand “gentle giant” Mike Richards, blasted into the Commonwealth Games record book yesterday with a pursuit ride that had gold medal written all over it.

The man at the mercy of Richards’ flying pedals was the pre-Games favourite in the event, the Australian Gary Sutton — until Richards came along the fastest man in the Commonwealth this year. Richards rode Sutton into the ground with an incredible 4min 50.5 sec time and established himself as the short-odds favourite for Tuesday’s final. Before that, he has to ride a semi-final today against the Canadian Ron Hayman, who yesterday beat another

fancied Australian, Kelvin Poole.

But Hayman is realistic. “I have no illusions,” he told the NZPA. “He’s got it. I’m just filling in the numbers against someone like him.”

It was not altogether a smooth day for the 19-year-old Richards. In a seeding based on previous best times, Richards and Sutton clashed in the afternoon’s qualifying round, where it is time and not winning that counts. Neither Sutton nor Richards were in touch and their times of smin L3osec and smin I.6lsec made them the fourth fastest and fourth slowest respectively of the eight qualifiers, which meant they had to meet again at night — a prospect which filled the New Zealand camp with dismay.

The New Zealanders knew Richards was capable of fast

times, but they had to sit and watch Sutton beat him, and then see another Australian, Gary Campbell, break the Englishman, Hugh Porter’s, 12-year-old Games record of 4min 56.65ec with a 4min 56.245ec qualifying ride.

The anxiety increased when Sutton took a flier at the gun against Richards, and the New Zealander found himself a worrying I.l2sec down with a third of the 4000 m covered. But Richards knew his man and he was confident of pegging him back. Within a lap, he had done it and for the second half of the race Richards was looking better and Sutton increasingly worse.

Richards’s last kilometre went by in an amazing Imin llsec — a respectable time for the kilometre specialists who rode yesterday.