CYCLING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21385, 13 July 1931, Page 8

CYCLING

OTAGO CLUB’S RACE - On .Saturday a . cycle race .from Parkside Hotel to Allanton and back was staged by the O.A.C.C. The weather was fine, and, as there was an absence of wind, ■the ’times- were .very fast. A notable tea-, tiire of the race was the fine finishing efforts of the first four riders, all came down Caversham Hill together, making the pace willing, and finished within 20.. yards of one another. The winner, E. Fletcher, who also gained., fastest time, Tode 'a great race from stasf to’finish, and dma Me finishing burst show.ed fie,, parried; tod many guns, for Smart; .and Evets. Associated with him was 'D., Sniart, ■ who glso rode a determined rate and- kept with Fletcher all the way, but he lacked Fletcher’s experience in 'finishing, w The,scratch men werfe unfortunate in hot ob-' taining fastest time, 1 for they worked-hard for it. but they Jiad' riot'the, advantage of such" a large riumberi'of pacemakers as Fletcher and Smart.' .A fait field faced the.' starter, arid: the. two limit men, Nelson and- Newish, set off,: at a fast pace,' followed' ativarious intervale by, the different riders till the three scratch men set oft,, on their journey- to Allanton and backKewish, closely followed by Nelson, was the first to top Saddle Hill on the way out,- shortly after them came Evers, Greenfield, Smart, and. Fletcher. Smart, and Fletcher had picked up Greenfield;' Evers, and MacGregor going up Saddle; Hill,- but at thisi -stage MacGregor with-;, drew- -owing :to-:cramp.- After'an interval of about two minutes the scratch men passed the top of Saddle-Hill and shotdbiVn thg rise at'a fast pace', taking the; bend 'as though they -were ’broadsiding.;Up to this time the scratch men had, gained slightly on th 4 front men, but now the .latter were-bunched and were working hard? and, making- the, scratch men’s task of;batching them almost impossible.' At the turn at Allanton, Kewish, who' had jumped away from Nelson, was the first to turn, having a lead of about a-quarter’ of a mile on Fletcher, Evers, Nelson, Smart, and t Greenfield, who, were nbxt to turn. The ’ scratch men were now about half -a :mile Rebind, Fletcher , and- i but;; they were: pedalling fast in the hope, of the front bunch tiring and giving them a chance - of' catching them. At ‘Scrogg’s Hill the, middle buneft picked up Kewish, who had ridderi a hard- race for a long distance on his own. At Riccarton, Nelson and Greenfield were left by Fletcher, Smart. Kewish, and,Eyerg, .who were all bunched and were pedalling, furiously to keep away from the scratch men, who were still half a mile behind. This was the order till Lookout Point was reached, where the four first riders went down the hill, setting a terrific pace. Coming to the finish they were still bunched, but E. Fletcher came away from the, bunch with a good sprint t 6 gain ' first- place and fastest time. He was followed closely by DC Smart, Kewish, and Evers, who were all close together. G. Smith beaded the; scratch men home easily with a fine sprint, followed by O’Brien and M'Connell. The race was controlled by Messrs J. Johnston, MacDonald, Greenfield, and Stinson. Results. —E. Fletcher (linin' 30sec) 1, D. Smart (Imin 30sec) 2, Kewish (Sinin) 3, Evess (4min) 4, Smith (scr) 5, O’Brien (scr.) 6, M'Connell (scr) 7. Fastest time,E. Fletcher, -Ihr lOmin 30sec; -second, fastest, D. Smart. Ihr lOmin 31sec. PACIFIC CLUB. An excellent field of 17 riders contested the second race of the Pacific scries held over a 23-mile course on’the Taieri Plains on Saturday. The conditions were ideal and fast time resulted. The roads, except for portions through Woodside, which were rather heavy, owing to the frosts, were in good condition. The limit men set a merry pace from the start, but the backmarkcrs were teaming well and had gained three minutes at Manugntua, F. Beale, Lnndrebe, Gilchrist, and Bimne were making good headway through Outram, but Hetherington, M. Beale, Templeton, Timms, Kennedy and Parsons were teaming well and in the final 200 yards they overtook the front men, and one of the finest finishes in the history of the club ensued. The front markers were not done with, and F., Beale put in a wonderful sprint to head J. Landrebe, with Hetherington, who rode a groat race from scratch, filling third place and collecting fastest time. The whole field, with the exception of two or three riders, were in the straight together and' made an impressive sight as they dashed for the line. The finish was a tribute to the handicapping of Mr P. Traill. Results;—F. Beale (sJmin) 1, J. Landrobe (6min) 2, G. Hetherington (scr) 3, R. Timms (IJjmin) 4, C. Gilchrist (6min) 5, A. Binnie 6.

Fastest times: G. Hetherington, 62min 53sec; M. Beale, 62min 56sec. The race was controlled by Messrs C. A. Lucas, J. Wilson, mid C. Gamble.