CYCLING

Southland Times, Issue 22508, 16 February 1935, Page 15

CYCLING

(By

“Wheelman.”)

COMING EVENTS. February 19: Club night, Rugby Park, 7 p.m. February 23: Southland Cycling Championships at Drummond 1.30 p.ra. March 4 and 5: Otago Cycling Championships at Dunedin. DRUMMOND JOTTINGS. Last Saturday evening the Drummond Club staged its final evening meeting for the season. It was an evening of surprises, fast times being registered and the half mile track record broken. The time for this event was Imin. 10 2-ssec. This event produced a very close finish, M. Thornbury narrowly defeating the scratch rider L. Johnson, while C. Robinson, who has shown a marked improvement during the last few weeks, was two lengths back in third place. H. Reynolds showed the rest of the field a clean pair of heels, both in the one and two mile events, winning both with ease from a good handicap. In the two-mile race J. Robinson and L. Johnson fought a great finish for second place, Robinson gaining the decision by half a length. L. Johnson, by securing 15 points, annexed the President’s Cup donated for most points secured during the season, A. H. Chilton being runner-up with 11 points. As a wind-up for a successful season the Drummond Derby (official race) was staged over a distance of half a mile. After a number of false starts the field was sent away fairly evenly. After a quarter of a lap had been covered Millow was leading from Mitchell by a “pint” with “Brass” shining to advantage about a gallon behind with the rest of the field well bottled up the back straight. At the commencement of the second lap “Kaka” started a “haka” and was immediately ordered off the track, while matters were being smoothed a little. Jefferson raced to the front to win by three “pints” from Ritchie with Lindsay a “nip” back in third place. (A dry finish!) General Notes. On Wednesday evening three cycling events were staged at Winton under gloriously fine weather conditions. H. Reynolds with remarkable speed annexed both the half and one mile events, while J. Flynn, whose performances so far this season have been far below his usual standard, annexed the two-mile event. The half-mile was a fairly good race to watch, some fast work being done over the final 220 yards. At the commencement of the second lap H. Reynolds rushed to the lead to win by one and a half lengths from M. Smith, who made up a lot of ground over the last 220 yards, M. Thornbury following in third place a further one and a half’ lengths behind. The limit riders held their own for the first two laps in the mile, but H. Reynolds, putting in a fast dash, went to the lead to secure first place by five lengths. L. Johnson and M. Smith fought a good finish, Johnson gaining the decision by a length. In the two-mile race the limit riders held their own for about three-quar-ters of a mile with the scratch rider, L. Johnson, trailing the field. With three laps to go the field was bunched and maintaining a fair pace. In the final lap J. Flynn went to the front to win by a length from M. Smith with W. Pickford four lengths back in third place. The club night to be staged by the local club next Tuesday evening will consist of two events, one mile handicap and three mile “point scorer.” There will be no cycling events under the auspices of the local club today owing to the athletic championships. Entries for the Southland cycling championships and handicap event close this evening with the secretary of the Drummond Club. If weather conditions are favourable two buses will leave the H. and H. garage for the Drummond Sports next Saturday, one to leave at 12.30 p.m. and the other at 1 p.m. After the sports one bus will return to Invercargill, the other being delayed until after the dance. Oteramika Jottings. The Oteramika Club held another of its popular evening meetings on Wednesday evening under ideal weather conditions, the results being as follows:— Half Mile.—C. W. Robinson, I.A.C.C. (scr) 1, W. Cull, O.A.C.C. (10yds) 2, J Burke, OA.C.C. (45yds) 3. Robinson took the lead early in the race to win by two lengths, third being three lengths away. One Mile.—W. Cull (30yds) 1, C. W. Robinson (scr) 2, J. Burke (50yds) 3. Cull drew away in the final lap to win fairly easily with Burke and Robinson putting in a fast run over the last lOOyards, Robinson gaining second place by inches. One and a half miles.—J. Burke (60yds) 1, W. Cull (30yds) 2, J. Enwright (100yds) 3. Cull went to pieces in the final lap, leaving Burke to take an easy win. Enwright was well back in third place. A non-members’ race was staged and proved to be the best race of the evening. P. Burke gained the honours, J. Meredith fighting a great finish with E. Kelly for second place. Meredith gained the decision.

Young Ladies, 100 yards.—Miss A. Walker 1, Miss M. Summers 2, Miss M. McNaughton 3. The last race of the meeting was as usual run in the dark. If this state of affairs continues there is going to be a nasty accident one of these evenings. The sooner the officials concerned realize this the better. There seems to be only one way out of the difficulty: that is to run two events instead of the usual three events.

C. W. Robinson is making the O.A.C.C. members speed up in the various events. 'lf all the members were to compete it would be to their own advantage and they would find an improvement in their racing ability.