A FATAL SKID

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19828, 30 April 1927, Page 6

A FATAL SKID

MOTOR-CYCLIST’S DEATH TAKAPUNA RACING ACCIDENT [Per Pres? Association.] AUCKLAND, April 29. “There is always a big element of risk in motor cycle racing/ 1 said Mr F. K. Hunt, S.M. at the inquest on James Alexander Davidson the young motor cyclist who was killed at the Takapuna cyclo races on March 26. “It is plain the club docs its best to make novices take every precaution. The verdict will be of acciiiential death,” he concluded. “Fast riding and a greasy track contributed largely to the accident” said Sergeant Rowell. “I told the dead man before he started; racing not to attempt to force his machine” said Leslie Arthur Sterricker, machine inspector of the Auckland Motor Cycle Racing Club. “During the race in which Davidson ■ was injured I was watching him. His back wheel appeared to skid outward from the rail, and the front part of the bike charged the rail before he could recover. He was a novice on the racing track and the stewards told him to go round the course twice, when it was empty, to satisfy them that he was competent. Several competitors in other races skidded slightly at the point where the accident happened.” Witness said he considered the Takapuna course safe for racing. The course on tlfe day, was damp and, 1 the riders had to go carefully. Davidson was riding too fast for the experience he had had of racing. Before that race he had ridden more carefully but was gaining experience and confidence all the time. New riders should ride in races two or three times without attempting to win. Witness gave Davidson that advice.