GREAT CYCLING RACE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20597, 23 June 1930, Page 9

GREAT CYCLING RACE.

SENIOR TOURIST TROPHY. HANDLEY'S FINE PERFORMANCE. British Wireless. RUGBY, June 20. In the Senior Tourist Trophy motorcycle race over 264 miles (seven laps) at tho Isle of Man the result was:— t W. L. Handley, 74.24 miles an hour.. 1 G. Walker, 73.10 miles an hoar . 2 J. Simpson, 72.70 miles an hour .. o Percy Coleman (New Zealand) retired owing to valve trouble. There were many crashes and several of the competitors were injured. The time of Handley, who rode a 4.99 Rudge-Whitworth, was 3h. 33m. 30s. This was 6m. 28s. faster than last year's time. Handley completed the first four laps (151 miles) in 9s. under two hours. This was the greatest performance ever achieved in a Tourist Trophy race. Tho Senior Tourist Trophy is the fastest and most gruelling of the three annual T.T. races. It is limited to machines of 500 c.c. engine capacity and this year was run last of the tliree races. Entries wero particularly heavy for tho Senior this year arid many representatives from overseas took part. The New Zealand representative, Percy Coleman, evidently recovered from his spill in tho Junior event and was unfortunate to havo his chances spoiled by mechanical trouble. The winner of the Senior, W, L. Handley, has been prominent in motor-cycle racing in England and on tho Continent for many years. He won the Junior T.T. in 1925 on a Rex-Acme machine and was at first to ride a Belgian mount, an F.N., in the Senior this year, but evidently changed to tho Rudge-Whitworth team at tho last moment. Graham' Walker, tho second man, was third in this year's Junior and among his most recent successes are first and record lap in tho 1929 Ulster Grand Prix, first in the Linster "100" for tho past two years, first in tho 1928 Dutch T.T. and second in the 1929 Dutch T.T. J. Simpson, the Norton rider, has also ridden in tho Islo of Man T.T. and other big races for many years. In tho past two years the race has been won by C. J. P. Dodson, on a Sunbeam machine. Ho held the lap record at 73.55 miles an hour.