Timaru’s big week-end

Press, 18 June 1982, Page 15

Timaru’s big week-end

The traditional pair of Timaru club amateur cycling classics which, equally traditionally, fall in mid-winter, the Peter Howes and Allan Loach memorial races, habitually perform a useful function. They bring together virtually all the South Island amateur cyclists, apart from those at the Top o’ the South, and act as a useful sounding board for handicappers for the balance of the season. Certainly, there are the usual variations and fluctuations of form, but getting over these races provides a handy basis for sorting out the rest of the classics. The handicapper for this pair of races. Mr Bert Thin, kept a close eye on the DB Harbour race which started the Canterbury open season and the worth" of the best of the break mark riders has been recognised by the placing on scratch the little group of Craig Nichols, Glen Fuller, Paul Miller and Alan Hood. Their credentials were sound enough, anyway, and have been further embellished by recent races. They join a more established group. ,of. Blair Stockwell, MBE. Brian Fowler, Greg Cox, , Peter Goding,. Greg Fraine. . Craig Adair r and Wayne Howes'.

There is no realistic likelihood of the scratch ■ riders failing in their quest for fastest time, but if the break markers get and keep their act together, their 3min start should take some little time to peg back. As always, there are a small handful who will probably consider themselves fortunate to have drawn the bunch they have, rather than that behind it. The 6min 5 mark can point to Murray Hewitt and Graham Brotherston: Paul Clare, Jim Ryder and Graeme Howes of the lOmin bunch; Brent Cowie and Malcolm Robertson. on 12min; Brian Robertson on 18min; Andrew Nye from 21min. But that sort of speculation usually produces another from the appropriate mark who has a day to remember — and perhaps.a different handicap for the Allan Loach Memorial on Sunday. Both races have drawn entries of 105, with only slight variations from one day to the next, and the bunches are basically the same. . However, tomorrow’s limit of 28min for the 60km, is out to 35min for Sunday’s 80km race, and the gaps between the bunches accordingly extended a little. Ray Cairns