Cycling Horne wins preview tour

Press, 16 July 1979, Page 21

Cycling Horne wins preview tour

By

RAY CAIRNS

The young Toni Horne andh Mark Nichole proved themselves;' • cut above their eiders when; ■the Canterbury provincial preAir u X , eu Zealand ,? d Pm was held on some of the oest of C anterbury cvcling courses on Saturday. Horne won the demanding Ntehote** tOUr b> IVsec tro ™ Horne is still not of age. and Nichols is only 17. but thev r?nm le< lh e °nsiderable pressure too? the SUrt ° f lhe 210 km P was fust applied on Evans Pass, when Chris- Hogan rode off Ujc front of the bunch and found himself usefully clear -Nichols easily worked clear of the bunch and was up with Hogan to apply a Jittie more Hornc was soon there, •nd the break was complete Ume the > had completed the various fast climbs of the Summit Road, the faster descent into Governor’s Bax, and tne climb of Gebbies Pass and reached Halswell. this trio was «teec clear of the four closest challengers. .' T J 1 e screws were turned bv j-ichols and Rome in the second stage, a 20km enterium. They might have been content with finishing 40sec clear of the best of the rest—Brian Fowler Russell Nant, Peter Lewis and Bryan Stenning— by the time J \. an< * Hogan had circuited the Summit Road and the rest to finish at Halswell. But a few early results clearly • roused the blood in Nichols and Horne, and they finished that sprinters’ race with the first two placings. Nichols just a point dear of Horne and more valuable bonus seconds for both. There was a very demanding «akm third stage to ride—to Purau and back. But Horne and Nichols must have known what they -were about, for after Nant had made an exploratory bid on Gebbies Pass, they led a bunch of seven. Only Nant, Stenning and Bryce Brunton—who had had a bad first stage, when he lost contact with 'the quintet, which fruitlessly chased Horne, Nichols and Hogan round the Summit Road—were able to go with them; and Lewis and Hogan, for whom Gebbies Pass the second time proved too much, succumbed severely. Brunton won the stage, just as he was to win the procession that was the final 25km stage round the Halswell Downs.

Picking a team for the national Ena! in two weeks, over much tlie same roads on Banks Peninsula, and others in North Canterbury, was hardly a testing exercise for the Canterbury •electors (Messrs B. E. Dawe. J. F. Delore and G. T. Fowler). Horne and Nichols were followed by Stenning—an assertive climber in the third stage—Nant, Lewis and Brunton, Hogan declining to start in stage four: and if the size of the national final field allows, those first six will be joined by Hogan. Jimj Ryder. Russell Fulton and Brenti Kircher. Only 18 eventually tackled the i coarse and apart from those ; named to contest the final, the more eye-catching performances: came from two first-year juniors. Fowler finished better than Nant, Lewis and Stenning in rftage one; while Brendan Bagot was the last to cry enough, w hen he reached the Purau turn. J Results:— I

Stage one, I.in wood-Summit Road-Halswell. 67km.—T. R.l Horne M P Nichols 2, C. M.| Hogan 2, all 1:49.02; B. Fowler 4.1 R. ’D. Nant 5. P M. Lewis 6. B.' W. Stenning 7, all 1:49:42; J Degarnham 8. B. W. Brunton i 9 both 1:56:54; J. I. Ryder 10. B Bagot 11, both 1:58:35.

* Stage two. Halswell 20km cri-j Nichols, 44 points. 1: . Vurne, 43. 2: K. W. Reid. 27. 3;' Fowerl, 26. 4: M. Sanders. 22, 5. Time. 29:15. « Stage three, H ajs well-Pur au-1 return. 85 km. —Brunton I, Horne 2. Nichols 3. Nant 4, Stenning 5, Hogan. 2:23:25. 7; Ryder and R. W Fulton. 2:24:33. 8 and 9; B .R. Kircher. 2:31:00, 10. Stage four, Halswell block. 34km.—Brunton 1, Lewis 2, Stenning 3. Nichols 4. Horne 5. Time J 43:31. General classification—Horne. 5:18:23, 1; Nichols, at lOsec, 2; ; Stenning. at 66sec, 3; Nant, at 86sec. 4; Lewis, at 5:18, 5; Brunfbn. at 8:26. 6: Ryder, at 17:31, ?■ Fulton, at 20 33. 8; Kircher, at 28.09. 9 ’ Open 33km.—G. Tutty (smin) T. G? ,T. Smallbridge *smin) 2, G. • Milne Csmin) 3. G. McLeod (smin)| 4. S. Woods (3min) 5. Fastest I time: G. A P. Deller (scr), 52:32, 1; B. Hulbert (scr). 52:38. 2; S (scr), 53:27, 3. .Making full use of generous handicaps. the front-markers; dominated the Cooner Henderson i Motors 25km classic for novices, and Brian McManus had a hand•npie victor' from Don Clifford j •nd John Me Al non.

■ Appropriately, cooper,. whose father’s company spon-i sored the event, won fastest time! in a keenly-contested sprint from* ■ Vaughan Harvey and Gien Fuller. 'Their scratch bun<*h vr»s 3?mirr

, iruiu iuie uunoui'S as wen.; J Results:— ■ McManus (lOmin), 45:24, 1;« Clifford (lOmin) 2, .McAloonj (13mim 3, P. Coates tl3min’» 4. p ruttv lOmin) r »

: raaiesi ume: 1. C .Looper (scr), ' 38:57, 1; V. R. Harvey (scr). « 38:57.1, 2; G. F. Fuller (sen; j 38:57.2. 3; P. Turnbull (scr), 138:57.3, 4; C. P. Nichols (scr), 38:57 4. 5