The Savannah morning news., 1902-10-04
MADE TWO RECORDS
my WALTHOUR AT COLISEUM
TRACK BEAT THE WORLD.
FOR ONE AND FIVE MILES.
GEORGIA BOY DEFEATED NELSON
IN TWO FIVE-MILE HEATS.

uotb Records Made in Second Heat |
rive Miles Ridden in 1854 40, and
,.t Vile of the Five in 1:IS-NeI- |
.on Lost Pace in First Heat to
avoid COIIisiOn-In Second Was |
simply Outridden-WaIthO Also |
ncfeated Lawson in Postponed |
ueat-CnIIahan and TurviIIe and |
O.NeiI and Thompson Among 9th
or Racers-CrOVvd of 1000 in At
tendance.
The world records were smashed by |
pobbv Walthour on the Coliseum track |
,,s+ night. In the second heat of his |
-ace with Nelson he rode five miles |
in 6.54 As, which is the fastest time
aver made for the distance on any sort
Of track. even a straightaway. In this
heat he rode the last mile in 1:1S fiat,
another worlds record, as it has never
been done before in competition.
The race was certainly the finest ever
seen on the local track and one of the
hest that has been ridden since the in
PRODUCTION of motor pacing. Walthour
cut out a hot pace from the very first.
did the first mile in 1924 clipped this
time a little in the next eight laps,
rode the third also under 1:24, lost a
second or two on the fourth, but hit up
the pace in the fifth until, like a shad-
owy splotch of yellow, he crossed the
tape in the last lap, a winner by lit
lie more than quarter of a mile, and
with two new worlds records to add
,1,- Ixr1 lon licf ,;oI, L..
every record from one to twenty-five
miles.
In both heats Walthour was paced
by Gus Lawson, 1.-The Terrible Swede,"
on WalthOur's pet machine, the Red
Devil" and no little credit for both
victories is due to Lawson's splendid
pacing. Nelson, too, rode exceptionally
well, but he was no match for the
Georgia boy. There was some excuse
for his losing the first heat, for in the
fifth lap of the third mile he lost his
pace in order to avoid a collision, and
so Walthour beat him by nearly three
laps in the very excellent time of 6:57
S-5.
In the second heat, though, it was
clearly a case of the faster man win
ming, for though the men started on
opposite sides of the track, Walthour
twice passed the school boy wonder the
first time in the sixth lap of the sec
ond mile, and the second time in the
last lap of the fourth.
Later in the evening Walthour also
rode one of the five-mile heats with
Gus Lawson, which had been postponed
from Tuesday night. This one also he
won without trouble, in SOL 3-5 In
riding this race his object was not to
make fast time, but simply to beat his
man across the tape, so he loafed
around the bowl, letting Lewson lead
him at times, then, forging ahead of
the Swede for a little while, but as
the race drew near it's close he began
to sprint, ran away from Lawson and
crossed the tape ahead of his pace.
Lawson rode well. but was handi-
capped by the effects of a fall that he
suffered yesterday morning. q While
driving motor around the track at
1;25 clip, tire came off and Goth
the rider and the machine took hard
fall, the machine on top. Because of
this accident Lawson would have call
ed the heat with Walthour off, but de-
cided not to, after Prince had explain
ed to the crowd about the accident.
These three heats We're, of course,
the star events of the programme, but
not all of it, for several other excit-
ing races took place. One of these
was a mile motor race between top
sic Turville of Philadelphia and
DdlCuSNu Callahan OF BdltlI1Ore.
Callahan won, beating Turville by
nearly three-fourths of a lap. Time
1:25.
second exciting event was a two
mile motor race between Charles
O'Neil and Oscar Thompson, both of |
Savannah. The race was close through |
out and the finish was a dead heat. |
10 settle the question a second heat |
OF one mile was run. This was won by |
O'Neil in 1877.
The races were attended by about |
1000 people, and that, despite the other |
attractions in the city. The crowd was |
handled much better than it was Tues |
day night, as both Prince and the Sa- |
Vannah Electric Company had made |
Preparations to take care of all that |
the Coliseum could hold. Prince has
put an additional exit to the grand |
stand and arranged ticket stations in |
the city, so that tickets can be bought |
IN advance, and thus save a rush at |
the office at the track.
The Savannah Electric Company had |
all the cars that were needed and, I'M |
der the direction of Mr.. Duffy, super |
lhtendent of transportation. a quick |
schedule was run both to the track and |
10 the city after the races were over.
Not the least part of the fun at the |
Coliseum was furnished by Prince. for |
=, VI SoCH event ne Ildue d speech 10 |
the spectators, who took the remarks |
IN a spirit of humor that Jack failed |
10 see, and laughed and guyed to their |
hearts content. Prince was unabashed. |
however, and at every opportunity |
sought to impress upon the people that |
they had seen better riding than had /
ever been seen before, that the Savan-
nah track is a wonder, the string of |
riders here marvels. and that specta- |
tors ought to be duly thankful to be |
given the opportunity of seeing such |
thrilling snort
Passengers returning from the Coli |
scum on the early cars were again sub |
Jected to an unusual and apparently |
unnecessary wait at the Gwinnett street |
crossing of the Atlantic Coast Line |
tracks, where they were detained while |
trains were drilling back and forth.