Cycling Junior cyclists perform well

Press, 6 October 1980, Page 21

Cycling Junior cyclists perform well

From

RAY CAIRNS

in Wanganui

Canterbury cyclists made a late showing in the Healing national road championships held at Wanganui during the. weekend.

Until the team time trial championships at Upokongaro yesterday morning, the bronze medal of Blair Stockwell had brought the only joy. Then four outstanding juniors finally brought gold to Canterbury, and four seniors from Timaru the silvers as the championships wound to a close. Brian Fowler. John Hughes, Peter McEwen and Murray Steele won the junior 40km team time trial championship in a brilliant 57min 245, a margin of Imin 365.

All hut Fowler had problems, but they had the experience and the ability to recover to finish together. Steele replaced an unwell Shane Smith in this team.

Canterbury was always well placed, and by 25km had built a lead of Imin over WaikatoBay of Plenty A. with West Coast-North Island A and Wellington A also handy. As Waikato slipped away, eventually to fourth, so Canterbury moved even further into the lead. W.C.N.I. eventually taking second, in 59min, from Wellington (59:10), The Canterbury B team of Tony and Glen Fuller. Paul Clare and Thaddeus Julian was seventh in 61min ss. Three Timaru selectors, Wayne Howes. Brian Thin and Warren Meggitt, attended the champion-

ships to contest only the 100 km team time trial as the Canterbury B team. Jim Ryde), who completed the quartet, also rode; the senior individual championship. , I They turned up fresh to take second place in the championship a minute behind Auckland, in 2hr 25min. 30s. Early in the race Canterbury B was 2min and more down on Auckland, made up the leeway in the middle, but slipped towards the end when Chris Harding made a mighty solo effort for Auckland. All he had left with him were Roger Sumich. contributing a little, and Wayne Perkinson. who could offer nothing. The Canterbury A combination gave a rough performance. Russell Nant and Paul Flattery both had trouble maintaining contact and the team withdrew soon after halfway. For the first time. too. the Canterbury boys’ team was unable to take a medal in the 20km championship. It was handicapped by Craig Nichols’s knee injury, suffered in his crashes on Fridav. and finished fourth. Waikato-Bav of Plenty won in 2Rmin 555, just 2sec clear of Auckland. Wellington did 29min ss. and Canterbury 29min 225. Sumich on Saturday won magnificently the national senior road championship over 2011 km. The Kai-Iwi course was a long assignment for the . 37 starters, eight of whom finished. In the sprint. Sumich handsomely beat Anthony. Cuff Palmerston North). Blair Stockwell (Canterbury), won the bronze

In the first of the eight laps, each of 25km, Mellsop led away a break including his teammate. Jackson Foster; the Wellington riders. David Bateman and James Cummings: Otago’s Peter Goding; and Michael McRedmond (W.C.N.1.)

medal in a hard finish against Wavne Perkinson (Auckland), and another Canterbury man, Paul Flattery, was fifth. The only other finishers were Tony Mellsop (Waikato), and the; Aucklanders. Chris Harding and Tony Songhurst.

A lap later, only Bateman and Cummings remained and witbin 10km they had gone, too. So, with virtually half the race to ride, Mellsop was alone, Cummings 3min behind him and the bunch at more than 6min. But the effort had to tell, and with 70km to go, his lead was 4min -’Osec: a lap later, a mere 2min ’.Osec- and he was caught bv the I bell.

Quicklv. then the field was down to'those first six finishers, with Songh"rst and Harding dronpert with 20km to ride. Then Mellsop was dropped, and on the nenuitiinate bill. Flattery and Perkinson went, too. At the final hill. Stockwell made an exploratory move, but Sumich and Cuff responded oureklv and Stockwell could not duite match them. Then Sumich went away with Cuff tucked in.

After starting in rather lighter breezes than on Friday, the riders struck heavy rain for the last hour, and the 200 km took them more than 5j hours. Results:

, Senior 100 km. —Auckland (W. (Perkinson, R Sumich, C. Harding. R. Averyi, 2hr 2-lmin 30.1 sec, 1; Canterbury B (J. Ryder, W. Howes, B. Flinn, W. Meggilt) 2:25:29.92, 2; Waikato-Bay of Plenty A (S. Cox, A. Martin, G. Pearson, M Bosomworth), 2:30:15.7. 3; Waikato-Bav of Plentv B (A Candv, B. Fleck, G. Jackson, J. Clarke). 2:30:29.62, 4; Wellington (G. Miller, D. Bateman, S. Carton, J. Cummings), 2:32:8.08, 5. Junior. 41.8 km. —Canterbury A (B. Fowler, J Hughes), P. McEwen. M. Steele), 57:24.2, 1; W.C.N.I. A (T. Hudson, S. Hunter, B Cox, D Dixonl, 59:02, 2; Wellington A (G. Fraine, A. Meo, R. Walters. D. Barnett), 59:10.11, 3; Waikato-Bay of Plenty (A, 59:27.2. 4; Auckland. 59:39.7, 5; Waikato-Bay of Plenty, 60.7.7. 16: Canterbury B, 61:4.7, 7: W.C.N.I B, 61:47.7, 8; Wellington B. ■62:33.4, 9. ; Boys’ 20km.—Waikato-Bay of ■Plentv, 28:55, 1; Auckland, 28:57, 2; Wellington, 29:5, 3; Canterbury, 29:22, 4; Southland, 29:53, 5; W.C.N.1., 30:4. 6. Senior, 202 km.—R. ■ Sumich (Auckland), J; A. Cuff (W.C.N.1.), 2; B. Stockwell (Canterbury), 3; W. Perkinson (Auckland). 4; M. Flattery (Canterbury) 5; T. Mellsop (Waikato), 6: C. Harding (Auckland), 7; T. ■ Songhurst (Auckland), 8. Time: 5:29:29.

Veterans, 35-44 years. 77km. — B. Harcourt (Southland) 1, B. Den-Hoet (Auckland) 2, C IVhitlev (Auckland) 3, G. Jackson (Waikato) 4, B. Bayley (W.C.N.1.) 5. W. Brocklebank (W.C.N.1.) 6. Time: 2:3:35