CYCLING.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4330, 13 April 1901, Page 8 (Supplement)

CYCLING.

Cycle racing in America has undergone a great many changes in a few years. A few years ago the best riders refused to ride at a night race meeting. Tcvday it is imperative that they should 1 do so, for should they refuse their occu-1 pation would bo gone. Nine-tenths of tho meets this season will be held at night. Years ago tho riders considered that the small eight-lap track, and the six-lap track even, was unfair for cycle racing. To-day they must ride on tho small track or retire from the sport. Promoters have found that cycle racing at night or on Sunday at a few points whore it is allowed is the only profitable way of carrying on tho game. They have also found that on tho smaller track tho races are more interesting to the public, and, therefore, more profitable. To satisfy tho public, both in tho time of holding tho meets and in the style of the track, is to ensure a profit, and the American people interested in tho sport to-day are seekers after profits. Cycle tjlubs and cycle agents once promoted races for the good of the sport. The professional sports promoter was then practically unknown, and to-day he is omnipresent. He is tho mainstay of ■the sport in tho States. His business is to promote race meetings, and ho does ' little else. This coming season ho will r run, not only one track, but many more, i on tho syndicate plan.' Jack Prince, the Amoridan cycle sports promoter, who is coming to Australia on . the conclusion of the American season . in October, is said to be a good friend to the* racing man. He gives riders a good , slice out of the gate, and tries to arrange that every rider gets a fair chance to

win a race. He is said to be as sharp as a needle, and to have forgotten more than most other sport promoters know. That Vaiighan, one of tlio recent American arrivals in Australia, can ride, is proved by the fact that just before ho left America lid rode a mile behind pace, with an 84in gear, in Imin 37sec. v anghan is 26 years of age. He has lost money on his Australian trip. The climate does not agree with him. Vaughan .spoke of going back to America on April 3. Ho is tired of racing, and will try one more season on the American circuit and then retire. Vaughan claims that ho has not struck form yet in Australia. In America he gets 70yds in a mile from Iver Lawson, while he only gets that start in two miles out here. Ho thinks that W. McDonald is the fastest of the Australian cracks. Ben Goodson, the erstwhile amateur champion cf Australia, who has been competing with the professionals this season with but little success, asserted himself at the Adelaide meeting by winning th e Half-mile Handicap fro mthe 20yds mark, from L. Corbett, of this fetate. "Goodson had McDonald, Martin, Maine, and Mutton behind him, so that he ia evidently getting more speed by his constant competition with the tonnotchera. Mutton, the Bathurst crack, defeated Goodson in the heat, but was unplaced in the final. Goodson was also third in the Mile Scratch. In the heat on this event he downed Chapman, the Yankee. Goodson has qualified for the Adelaide Wheel Race final, in which he has 60yds start. The new Adelaide track is evidently v er l fast, for in an attempt on the mile record recently, Martin got over the distance in Imin 39 l-ssec. This is only a second outside Maine's Australasian record. Martin hadl the assistance of motor pace, while Maine’s record was established behind a quintuplet on the Sydney Cricket Ground a few seasons ago.

At the Adelaide oval on March 28th, Martin, paced by a motor, made an efiort to lower Australian cycling- records. At five miles he was 11 l-sth seconds faster than the previous best, at 10 males 44 4-sth seconds faster and in an hour he covered 31 miles ’ 1425 yards against Ralph 29 miles 450 yards A small charge was made for admission and, the .proceeds wore divided between hawson, who met with an accident a tow days previously, and the Children’s Hospital. Whilst “Plugger Bill" Martin has few equals on the Australian tracks as a. rider, ho met with more than liis match in w-fi fln i sh ” that took P^cc in the St. K’llda (Melbounre) training wZ m \V WCBk '. Martin ’ s opponent rider a mer ’ tke West Australian

The performance of William Martin Amencan rider, at Adelaide on March -Bth, when he lowered all the Australian records from five miles to the hour was a «(5 attached to the hour record, the AmerimVo*°TAV- ng tko S°od distance of 31 anlil,nf° ya . rds J n i'! ie sixty minutes, the e -? lln ? the dlßti »otion of being t ,® rlde r to cover thirty miles in had the m - l Wra!l ’ 1 ’ While Martin haditho assistance of motor pacing, the Holders of the previous records were paced by multicycles, and they have stood lor some years, so that it is hardly fair to compare the two performances The RelT U !i!' e w rd , f °, r tlie hour was held by nn th’ tke En shshman, and was put up °, n } IG Cricket Ground. It stood at -9 miles 450 yards, so that MarUn has added two miles 975 yards to it. Kelph s Australian record looked a verv modiocro performance when compared with the world s record of over 40 miles, ivlucb is hold by Stinson, the Amerifcan. Martin s figures make the Australian hem, accord look a little more up-to-date. 'V' 1 been anxious to annex some or the Australian records for a pood while and now that ho has made a start ■blel' P robabi W continue his record Saturday last ho unsuccessfully attacked Walne’s mile record, and V ; ' S al “°. st certmu to have another go f.! T . ° foll . owin g will show the fig- ! mes for the principal Australasian re- ; cords as they at present stand:— I m de > 3-ssec, J. Megson, at Sydney mile, 4/sec, J. Platt-Betts Svdnev. * I 1 mile, Inun 38 l-ssec, R. Walne Syd- ' noy. ’ J , " l Imin 45se c . D. J. Walker, Syd- j “ i J e f’.f n,in 57 l-ssec. W. Martin, I Adelaide. I ’"10 miles. 17min oOjsec, W. Martin' Adelaide. i ’’so miles. lh 46min 56sec, F.S. Beau- • champ, Sydney. I '*loo miles, 3h 40min 58sec, F. S. Beauchamp. Sydney. **4 hour 31 miles -425yds. W. Martin, I Adelaides. ) "24 hours, 401 miles 1457yds, G. Crisp, ' .Melbourne.

Flying start. **Standing start. Walter Turnb.ull, the Cyclist Union’s representative for the New Zealand amateur championships, came to New Zealand by the steamer Waihora. His Balmain Club mates and some of tbo Cyclists’ Union's officials, attended at the wharf and wished the speedy Balmainite bon voyage. Turnbull (says an Australian paper) feels very confident of annexing one or two of the big New Zeajand championships. He is the speediest amateur we now have, and if the i\ew Zealanders beat him, we will have to acknowledge them to be faster than our amateurs. If Turnbull uses his head as

he oan use his logs, he should give young Reynolds, the crack New Zealand amateur, some tough battles. As a rule, in big races Turnbull loses his head, for instead of waiting for others to start the sprint he rushes off three-quarters or half a lap from home- The others sit behind him, and sometimes just boat him home. If Turnbull adopts these tactics in New Zealand Reynolds will beat him, for he is said to bo a sprinter of some note. He is a brother of Rey-

nolds, tho professional rider, who was sent to Franco for the world’s championships by the New Zealand League, in which ho did not compete, however. Some time ago particulars were published concerning a very daring ride by an American named Marsh, and now! there is chronicled tho death of a bro- ; ther artist, a perormer of a similar feat.] Joseph P. Stark’s “Hide for Life” was one of the items on the programme at tho 22nd Regiment Armoury, in Broadway, New York. It was a ride on a bicycle down an inclined plank of about 200 foot, from the roof to tho centre of tho hall, and then a dive from the bicycle to a tank of water 7 6 feet below. The tank was about lo feet square, containing water only 3 feet 6 inches deep. By long practice Stark had accustomed himself to diving and turning as ho struck tho water, so that ho would barely touch the bottom of tho tank. The bicycle from, which he dived, as ho reached the end of the plank, would run off and fall into a net placed to receive it. Before his last performance he waved his hand to the assembly below, leaped into the saddle, and grasping the handlebars lightly, seemed to shoot down the incline, which was only 30 inches wide, without any edge or protection. The spectators were almost breathless when the young athlete loft his wheel with hands clasped over his head, and shot through •pace in a direct line for tho tank, but it was his last leap, for he never rose again. Instead ot striking the water he hit the side of the tank, and os killed instantaneously. • Ho had that day attended the funeral of a friend, and before- his daring ride seemed in low spirits.