The Saint Paul globe., 1899-06-11
SOHE LIVELY RACING
IT CHARACTERIZED THE OPENING
MEETING OF THE NORTHWEST
ERN CYCLE COMPANY
TRACK SOMEWHAT HEAVY

Rain Before the Races Rendered
the Track a Little Slow Hofer
Won the Mile Professional From
Birney Bird by Wheel Length
There Were Fully 5000 Specta-
tors to Witness the Sport.
Five thousand people cheered to vic
tory the winners of yesterdays races at
Lexington park The sudden torrent of
rain which came down for an hour after
dinner did not keep the people away,
although it precluded the possibility of
any records being materially lowered by
the contestants. -t
The meet was the best managed and
most literally patronized of any affair
of it's kind ever held In the Twin Cities.
Every detail was executed without a
hitch. and some very pretty exhibitions
were put up by the riders. who made
brilliant finishes in several of the leading
events.
Those interested in wheeling took ad-
vantage of the liberality and enterprise
of the Northwestern Cycle company
who leased and threw open the large
directly in charge of A. D. Smith, off,
cial Handicapped of the L. A w. in Min
nesota. and its success was due to his
Ceaseless labors for several weeks past,
and a tribute to his popularity among. the
wheelmen Of the two cities. s'> - -
I L. B. Block, the st. Paul manager Of
the. Northwestern Cycle company, and
Charles Litzkys of the Minneapolis house.
Were ON the track early, and the re
cipfents of many congratulations upon
their enterprise in giving to the public
free racing matfnee under such favor
able circumstances It was the first time
I such a departure has. ever been tried IN
st. Paul, = and. Its popularity was, wen
tested by the crowd. THAT witnessed the
racing. , = ia
Birney Birds colors We're lowered by
Charles Hofer in the 7one-mile profess
Bional. the latter rider easily carrying
Oft the eRonorsa and ahis wonderful sprint
against a crack field of professionals was
the feature Of the afternoon sport -
The mile open amateur was won by
George Sudhefmer, the mile novice by
Ben Erickson, of Minneapolis; the three
mile professional handicap by j. j.
Schwartz. of Minneapolis; the fve-nile
amateur by Walter Granquist, of Mime
dpOllS. lne OnS-mlle professional Dy
Charles Hofer, and the three-mile anna
teur tandem handicap by the Sudheimer
and Clarkson tandem.
The races were called at p. M. and
at that time the grand stand and bleach
ers were well filled with people The
Century Road club occupied box di-
fectly in. front of the judges box, which
was prettily decorated with the club col
crs. The Laurels, Capital Cities White
Flyers and Commercial Cyclers also oc-
cupied prominent positions in the grand
stand
The track was a trif1e heavy at first
but after hundred riders had ridden the
circuit a half dozen times it was pretty
Well ironed down, but just a trihe slow
However, it was quite remarkable that
the track was not seriously damaged
by the rain, but it dried out very rapidly
and when the last events were run it
was i'll shape for pretty fair time.
The officials were as follows: Referee
Edward II. Payte; clerk of course, Rob-
ert H. McCleary; assistant clerk of
course, +. z. Low; starter, "A. D. Smith; /;
judges, E. B. Smith, W. H S. Wright.
DR. j. c. Nelson, j. E. Meyers and A B.
Choate; timers, Dan Carmichael, Collie
Bell and Archie Matheis; scorers, James
McIlrath, Samuel Joy, H. L. Jenkins, P.
a. Egan and DR.. NJ. o. Nelson
There were three or four very bad
spills but no one was seriously injured
of a mile.
The race around which interest CEN
tered was the one-mie professional The
first preliminary heat was paced by Bir-
ney Bird. ]. Nilsson, of Minneapolis; J.
Neubauer and Bird qualified for the
finals. Hofer guessed nearest the date of
the coin and was assigned to pace the
second heat in the preliminaries. John
Davidson did not show up in very good
shape and failed to qualify. The pace
makers, Bergeson and Schwartz, quail
fed
A time limit was placed on the final
1n.the one-mile professional, and the men
failed to make it. finishing in 2:3s, with
Hofer leading Bird by a. wheel and the
rest of the bunch right behind
A second attempt was made and the
men paced by a tandem ridden by Tom
Bird and Dan Carmichael 1t was in this
race that the spectators were treated TO
some exceptionally fast work The men
got away from the starting line with
Nilsson at the pole, followed by Berge-
son, Neubauer and Schwartz in the order
named. The first time around the posi-
tions of the riders was unchanged On
the last quarter of q mile Hofer was
trailing along at the end, with the field
doing their best. Just before turning
the corner of the home stretch Hofer led
out, passing Bergeson and Bird, finish
ing several wheel lengths ahead of the
FORMER. Inc croWQ went Wild with en-
= thusiasm. 1t was one Of the prettiest
sprints ever witnessed in this city. The
time was 2:13 2-5.
In the three-mile professional handicap
Hofer and Bird started from scratch, but
Hofer got no further than the ten-yard
line. as the sprecket on his back wheel
slipped and threw him. The rest of the
crowd tore away with the hundred-yari
men leading at the end of the first mile.
This position they maintained until the
finish. Davidson and Bird both dropped
out of the race. Schwartz, Neubauer and
Bergeson sped across the tape, with not
a wheel lengths difference in their posi-
lions.
1.-THE time was 7:16 1-3
%There was a large field in the amateur
class. Ben Erickson and ]. Korlath
qualified In the first heat of the novice
race, the former setting the. pace all the