Cycling Double to Canty juniors

Press, 7 June 1982, Page 14

Cycling Double to Canty juniors

From

RAY CAIRNS

Two Canterbury juniors, both of them attempting their first full cycling tours, gave the province an outstanding double in the Queenstown two-day tour, which finished yesterday. Glen Fuller had an outstanding win, 6s clear of Greg Cox. yet another Canterbury rider attempting his first full tour. The Canterbury clean sweep was completed by Wayne Howes, of Timaru, taking third place, 24s behind Fuller. In the B grade, the gritty little Peter Coates rode an intelligent race to win by 6s from Otago's Craig Padman. Fuller made his move to win the tour in the first stage, when he and Warren Meggitt (Timaru) rode away 30km after leaving Invercargill, and Fuller reached Lumsden more than 2min clear of the main bunch. Meggitt,

dropped before the finish of the stage, was a bit behind Fuller. Then it was a matter of the determined Fuller defending his lead. In the final stages he had help from other Canterbury riders, particularly Paul Miller and Greg Frame. Frame, one of the favourites, lost all chance when he missed a critical break in the field on the second stage, from Lumsden to Kingston. Unselfishly, he then gave his effort towards Fuller. Fuller’s performance was not without some hiccups, however. On the third stage, from Kingston to Queenstown, when Cox and Howes slipped the field near the finish and got clear, he lost a little more of the advantage that had slipped slightly when he jammed his gears in the second stage. So, overnight, Fuller and Cox were equal, but Fuller's team

helped give him a splendid win in the fourth stage, to Arrowtown and return. The icing on the cake came when Fuller sprinted brilliantly at the end of the criterion, being headed only by the tour’s outstanding finisher, Wayne Hilliary (Dunedin).

The tour minor placings were taken by Peter Goding (57s down) and Kevin Thomson (at 645), both from Dunedin, and they were followed by two other Canterbury riders, Mike Leahy (at 675) and Greg Tump (at 695). After Padman. the greatest challenger to Coates in the B grade was the experienced Canterbury man, Graham Brotherston. 24s behind, and just ahead of Lyndon Stenning (Otago), Murray Hewitt (Southland) and Tony Salole (Canterbury). Malcolm Robertson, also of Canterbury, was in eighth place.