Steady Stockwell in strong position for third success

Press, 2 November 1984, Page 44

Steady Stockwell in strong position for third success

NZP A Wanganui An injured knee forced the favourite, Jack Swart, out of the Dulux six-day cycle race yesterday, and Blair Stockwell is the new leader after an action-packed seventh stage.

Stockwell (Canterbury), a former champion, has a 14s lead over Wellington’s David Barnett. Swart, the defending champion and, like Stockwell, a two-time winner of the tour, pulled out a few kilometres before Patea on the stage from New Plymouth to Wanganui He has a swollen and painful knee injury. He hurt the knee during a crash near the finish of the fifth stage on Wednesday. Although he battled through the tough stage from Otorohanga to New Plymouth, the injury eventually ’ended Swart’s tour hopes. Swart, winner of three other tours this year, regretted his withdrawal. But the veteran also confessed that the harder he tried yesterday the more painful his injuiy became. Swart said his tour victory chances were extinguished before his Patea withdrawal, as he missed yesterday’s dramatic breakaway that drastically

altered the general classification going into the final two days of the race. It was initially a two-man break by Wanganui’s Warren Sharrock and the Aucklander, Paul Miller, soon after the start from New Plymouth on the 156.4 km stage. The Australian, Steven Fairless, soon joined the pair and they stayed away until the Manawatu hill climb, just past the halfway mark. Stockwell, the race winner in 1972 and 1980, helped provide the pace work as a group of five riders chased and caught the front five just before Patea. With Stockwell were Waikato’s Grant Tyrell, the eventual stage winner, Barnett and the Taranaki pair of Leigh Chapman and Blair Cox. The front eight stayed together to the finish. Tyrell outsprinted the other seven, an amazing 7min 32s clear of the main bunch of 13 riders.

The overnight leader, Graeme Miller of Auckland, finished in a bunch of four riders lOmin 52s behind Tyrell. As a result, Miller slipped to fourteenth on tour aggregate, lOmin 27s down on Stockwell. Stockwell holds a 14s lead on Barnett, who finished fifth yesterday, jumping from third place overnight to the tour lead while Barnett improved from fifth to second. Fairless jumped from seventh to third and improved from 47s behind overnight to only 24s behind Stockwell. Tyrrel whittled his Imin 23s deficit to 58s with his victory and a subsequent time bonus moved him nine slots up the general classification into fourth place. Only three other riders are within realistic striking distance of winning the tour — Cox (Imin 6s behind), Paul Miller (Imin 31s), and Chapman (Imin 445). Yesterday's results: Inglewood sprint. — P. Miller (Auckland) 1, W. Shar-

rock (Wanganui) 2, S. Fairless (Australia) 3. Stratford sprint — Fairless 1, Miller 2, Sharrock 3. Eltham sprint. — Sharrock 1, Miller 2, Fairless 3. Hawera sprint. — Fairless 1, Miller 2, Sharrock 3. Manawapou climb. — Fairless 1, Miller 2, Sharrock 3. Patea sprint. — B. Stockwell (Canterbury) 1, B. Cox (Taranaki) 2, Fairless 3. Waverley sprint — Fairless 1, Stockwell 2, D. Barnett (Wellington) 3. Waitotara climb. — Stockwell 1, Cox 2, Barnett 3.

Wanganui stage finish. — G. Tyrell (Waikato) 1, Fairless 2, Stockwell 3, L. Chapman (Taranaki) 4, D. Barnett 5, Sharrock 6, Miller 7, Cox 8, P. Leitch (Auckland) 9, E. O’Brien (Auckland) 10.

General classification. Stockwell 18hr 37min 4s, 1; Barnett (at 14s), 2; Fairless (at 245), 3; Tyrrell (at 58s), 4; Cox (at Imin 6s), 5; P. Miller (at Imin 31s), 6; Chapman (at Imin 445, 7; R. McKorkill (Australia, at Bmin 16s), 8; W. Morgan (Wellington, at Bmin 225), 9; Leitch (at Bmin 265), 10.

King of the Mountains. — Cox 16 points, 1; P. Miller and Stockwell, 11, (equal) 2; T. Sato (Japan) and Leitch 10, (equal) 4.