The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-12-06
MADONNA TAKES
KRAMER'S PLACE
IN SIX DAY RACE

Those who predicted that the six
day grind at Madison Square Garden
would prove too much for the veteran
Frank Kramer had their judgment
indicated at o'clock yesterday
morning, the third day of the race,
when the man who held the Ameri-
can cycling championship title for II
years was forced to leave the track
for a period of four hours, and then
finally quit the race altogether.
Scarcely able to walk as a result Of
badly swollen knees. Kramer came
on again for a one lap test at IL
o'clock, but finding his legs could not
stand the strain announced his retire
ment.
Some of the veterans friends offer
the mistake of using too high geared
a wheel, which caused too great a tax
on his legs The consensus, however,
was that age had more to do with it
than the high geared wheel When
Kramer appeared at II o'clock, Egg,
thinking his partner was about to re-
lieve him, left the track and the. field
Tapped Kramer, who was only crawl
ing along on the fiat. The team was
penalized a lap after Kramer dec1ar-
ed he was through. and Oscar Egg,
his partner, was given the customary
four hours to find another teammate.
Egg Starts Sprints.
Refreshed, Egg returned to his
task shortly before 4 o'clock in the
afternoon, this tirns with Vincent Ma
donna as his partner, one lap behind
the other II teams, who were still
tied for first. The Swiss cyclist imme-
diately started a series of sprints that
set the Garden in an uproar and al
most regained the lost lap for him.
The team of Goullet and Magin,
which is now favored to win, con-
tinued to increase it's point lead in the
afternoon sprints, bringing its total
up to 1913, 33 points more than Hill
and Hanley, who were second in the
standing. The riders, despite the
sprinting, however. kept falling be-
hind the record and were exactly $50
in the evening. Another capacity
crowd was OH hand long before the
night sprints began, the sale of tickets
being stopped before 8 o'clock, with
the line of would-be spectators still
stretching half way across the out
side of the Garden.
The first spill of any consequences
came shortly before 6 o'clock yester-
day morning, when George Chapman,
of the ''kid' team, while leading, fell
asleep and finally fell off his wheel.
Grenda, Verri, Hill, Madonna, Magin
and Debeates, who were punched right
behind him, followed him in a heap to
the bottom of the track. Several
wheels were badly tangled, but for
tunately, nobody was hurt. During
one of Eggs spurts late in the after
noon Magin lost control of his wheel
and toppled to the bottom of the
track, but escaped with few minor
bruises.
Grenda, Drobach, Hill. Thomas and
Madden finished in order IN the sixth
sprint of the night and then came the
first big jam" of the race. After this
spring Jake Magin jumped to the
front and had gained half lap before
the others realized that he was going
| lap runting. Then for II minutes
there was perfect whir1 of riders.
| Goullet, Verri, Egg, Madonna and
| Hill took a hand at trying to kill the
others off. Men were scattered all
over the track and it was plain that
some Of the teams would suffer. The
| judges held afterward that Chapman
| and Eager had been Tapped. And
| they penalized Root and Drobach for
riding off the track during the jam.
In the system in vogue the teams