Steele, Fowler tops in cycling festival

Press, 10 January 1983, Page 3

Steele, Fowler tops in cycling festival

Bv

RAY CAIRNS

Perhaps befitting the fact that they were back “home.” and also with Colin Ryan absent. Murray Steele and Brian Fowler were the outstanding competitors at the DB festival of cycling at Denton. Park yesterday afternoon.

At the end of it all. in this meeting featuring the North and South Island teams, Fowler emerged a fraction ahead on points, with his DB 450 m Derby victory, and a storming 8000 m win. He also took third in the 1000 m, a race won by Steele, and the latter was also runner-up in both Fowler’s wins. Amid the welter of outstanding races and performances, none could touch the 8000 m. With 200 m to ride. Russell Nant looked set to cause quite a boilover, but Fowler's strength triumphed, though not without the mightiest of challenges from Steele, always handy, Craig Adair, who was disastrously placed at the bell, and Craig Griffin, who withstood check after check in the final 200 m.

Over the whole meeting. Steele could perhaps point to an over-all superiority, for he won his 2000 m invitation race from Griffin and the outstanding junior. Alan Miller. Fowler, for his part, had the. satisfaction of beating home his bunch, but it was in the wake of Stephen Harcourt, the Invercargill junior, and the willing Christchurch rider, Andrew Hallaway. *

Miller, almost predictably, beat home Harcourt, in the junior 8000 m, but there was less predictability to the

novice events.

The sharply-rising form of Nicholas Culver, of Wan-ganui,-was maintained when he won the 450 m from his club-mate, Greg Brodie, and Southland’s Tony Clark, and the 2000 m, this time from the Canterbury pair, Wayne Eyre and Jason Smith. Those two, in that order, had earlier led Ross Brimer home in the DB 1000 m, which was an all-Canterbury result. However, the latter won the best result of the novice programme in the 4000 m, a race that seemed tailormade for Culver, who led out all the final lap. But Brimer fastened on to the Wanganui rider who celebrated his fifteenth birthday the day before. and overcame him in the straight with the solidlybuilt Brodie flashing home impressively for third. The South once again won the Italian pursuit, Eyre riding the final lap, instead of Clark, and Eyre's strength was needed to overcome Culver. Results:— OPEN Scratch Open 1000 m.-M. A. Steele 1. W. J. E. Rastrick 2, B. A. Fowler 3. Time, 1:18.61. B grade 800 m — J. Matthews 1, D. King 2. G. Morgan 3. Time.. 69.44. DB 450 m Derby, semi-finals.— Heat one: Rastrick 1. Matthews 2. Time, 32.28. Heat two: Fowler 1, W. Sharrock 2. Time, 33.71. Heat three: Steele 1, R. D. Nant 2. Time, 33.27. Final: Fowler 1, Steele 2, Sharrock 3. Time, 33.05. Selected riders 2000m.—Race one: S. Harcourt 1, A. Hallaway 2. Fowler 3. Time, 2:32.00. Race

two: Steele. I. C. Griffin 2. A Miller 3. Time. 2:30.70.

Junior 8000m.—Miller 1, Harcourt 2. I Ellis 3. Time. 10:44.62.

Senior 8000m.-Fowler 1, Steele 2. C. R. Adair 3. Time. 10:18.76.

Eliminated riders “Devil".—A grade: Leitch 1. Fraine 2. T. Fenton 3. B grade: R. J. Lander 1. M. B. Hazeldine 2.

A grade 2000 m handicap.—T. Stone (70m) 1. B. T. Clyne (70m) 2. G. Morgan (130 m 3. Time. 2:26.11.

B grade 2000 m.—S. R. Hendren (60m) 1, R. Higgins (120 m 2, G. Sloan (120 m 3. Time, 2:39.38. NOVICE Scratch

Open 1000 m.—W. Eyre 1. J. Smith. 2. R. Brimer 3. Time. 1:25.70. A grade 450 m.—N. Culver 1. G. Brodie S. A. Clark 3. Time. 36.28. Selected 2000m.-Culver 1, Eyre 2, Smith 3. Time. 2:58.64. Italian, pursuit.—South. Island (Eyre. Brimer, Clark, Smith), 1:58.97, beat North Island (Culver. Brodie. T. Carter. S. Goodman). 2:00.50. B grade 2000 m.-J. O'Brien 1. P. Searle 2. J. Sands 3. Time. 2:59.42. Open 4000m—Brimer 1. Culver 2. Brodie 3. Time. 5:46.53. Handicap Eliminated riders 2000 m.-B. Peters (50m) 1, S. Bruce (50m) 2, A. Donaldson (50m) 3. Time, 2:43.28. B grade 400 m.—J. Sands (25m) 1. A. Fairweather (40m) 2, A. Terris (30m) 3. Time, 29.96. B grade 1600 m—C. Williamson (scr) 1, J. O’Brien (60m) 2. A. Donaldson (scr) 3. Time, 2:07.35.

A grade 2000m.—Williamson (120 m 1, A. Macbeth (70m) 2, Peters (120 m 3. Time, 2:39.96.