Los Angeles herald., 1907-09-10
GOES MILE
IN MINU7E
MoToRcYcLlsT TAKES COURSE
LIKE wHIRLwiND
COMES WITHIN SECOND OF THE
WORLDS RECORD
Races at Agricultural Park Prove Ex-
citing, and 5000 Spectators Wit
ness Fast Miles and Close
Finishes
BY HA1NEs w. REED

Il Inc Los Angeles mOIOTCyClotS iiciu tiiS
interest of crowd of nearly 5000 specta-
tors on the old bleachers at Agricultural
park yesterday There were twelve
events, all devoted to motorcycles. which
were not lacking in class. e
The meet of yesterday was the greatest
in the history of motorcycle contests In
| Southern California, and one which did
credit to the motorcyclists OF Los An
| geles. 1 e
| While most of the machines entered
were stock motorcycles, not built for
racing, they made good showing. and
the time made was anything but slow in
most of the events. President w. g.
| Collins of the Motorcycle club, on his
French Peugeot, was easily the star OF
the day. In the final exciting fve-mile
| race for two-cylinder cars. he took first
place, making the last lap In ! minute
| fiat, being the fastest time made during
the meet, and only a little short OF the
American record Of 81 seconds for mile.
Paul Derkum was not far behind Col
Inns, with his two-cylinder Indian.
Throughout the events this plueky racer
made an excellent showing for the. Indian
motorcycle, winning on the curves what
the more speedy machines would gain on
him down the straightaway The curves
were banked so low as to make the
racers a little uneasy about striking them
at top notch speed 4 tt
Star Performer
Another star performer was little Jim
Mazzii, who pushed his speedy Curtis
machine to victory in the two-cylinder
event of the five-mile club challenge cup
race, but could not overcome the handi-
cap against him in the finals. He made
the five miles from a standing start in
minutes seconds. c. w. Risden Of the
Indian agency was one of the most fin
ished racers on the course. He took
away the Charles Fuller Gates cup in the
five-nile stock car race, rescued second
place in the one cylinder free for ALL and
was factor to be dealt with in every
event he entered. G. Blaylock did some
fine work with the Reading Standard and
the Holmes & Hoag machines.
The first event Of the day, f1ve miles
for novices. who had never ridden in
previous races, was taken in handily by
g. Colt on Reading Standard, H. Shafer
on a Reading Standard was second, and
the Torpedo. propelled by e. Shockley,
took third. The time for this event was
6 minutes 46 seconds.
The three-mile race for boys onL stock
machines was won by G. Balk on an In
dian, e. Koch on Reading taking sec
ond. and the third place going to Harry
Smith on Torpedo. The youngsters did
some good work in this race, the time
being minutes 50 seconds.
Indian Wins Cup
The Charles Fuller Gates cup for stock
machines in a f1ve-mile contest went to
c. w. Risden; who rode an Indian ma
chine. e. A. Eachart tooke second place
and kept Risden hustling throughout the.
five laps. Eckhart was the favorite of
the grand stand In every race he entered
Risden made the five laps in minutes
and 81 seconds.
The most spectacular and interesting
races of the day were the Australian pur-
suit races. There were two of these novel
events, one for single cylinder machines
and the other for double cylinders. The
contestants were started off one at
time, following each other short dis
tance apart. Every time a machine was
passed 1t had to drop out of the race un-
til the number left on the track was
gradually reduced to two or three racers,
who fought 1t out for the last few laps
of the ten miles.
In the double-cylinder event the Read
ing Standard took the first two places,
E. W. Hoag coming in first and G.. Blay-
lock taking second. The third place went
to Eckhart.
The double-cylinder pursuit race was
the feature Of the day, next to the final
event. p. Derkum on his Indian sur
prised every one In this race by taking
first place away from w. G. Collins and
his French Puegeot. The time in this
race was given out as IL minutes 80 Sec
onds.
The four-mile team race was not much
of a success. There was much irregular
ity about mounting and getting under
way. Derkum got good lead for his
team in the first lap, but 1t was lost by
the second man In the relay, who could
not get his machine started. Finally the
race was won by team number four, led
by G. w. Risden, who was followed by
F. Mcbride, r. Bernard and A. Gringer.
Reading Standard Wins
G .Blaylock won first place in the Ave-
mile free-for-all single cylinder race, in
6 minutes IA seconds. He rode Reading
standard machine. Risden took second on
his Indian and E.. w. Hoag came in third
on the Reading Standard.
This race had an exciting finish when E.
Taeuberts' Indian machine caught fire in
the gasoline tank and went smoking down
the line past the finish. A crowd soon
gathered around the smoking vehicle and
volumes of water were brought in buck
cts and heaps Of sand gathered from the
track, were thrown upon It,, but efforts to
put out the blaze were of no avail until
the gasoline had been burned out.
Most amusing of all the races was the
obstacle contest. The racers lined up at
the start with fiat tires. When the pistol
was fired they unstrapped pumps from
their machines and began to initiate the
empty tires. This pumping contest proved
amusing to the audience and very annoy
ing to several of the racers who found
their pumps out OF order Some OF the
riders had completed almost a lap before
the last men finished pumping up their
tires. One of the contestants who got first
start failed to pump enough air Into his,
with the result that the back tire came of
on one of the curves. At the finish of this
event section OF fence opposite the south