Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-14
FATES FAVORED
PERCY LAWRENCE
Drew Jimmy Hunter as
Pacemaker and Didn't
Have a Puncture
CARMAN Is l. L C. h Y

Fate or something surely plays some
odd tricks on the unsuspecting in
hahitants of this war-ridden world. For
instance. take the case of Clarence Car
man. the mOtor-paced rider eXtraordi-
, nary. who is working in an aviation
plant at Newport. y. j.. and riding the
wooden way during his leisure hours.
I and Percy Lawrence. the present Ameri-
can forty-mle motor-paced champion.
last evening at the Point Breeze Motor
drome.
Percy Lawrence arrived at the local
track with two machines. but some one
thought he could put one of them to
/ better use than Percy, so took il away
! from the park. This meant that if Law
renee had a puncture or in any manner
disabled his lone bicycle he would
rbe out Of the race The other riders
all had two machines
To any one else this might have
spelled a defeat hut not Lawrence. He
decided that this was break No. | in his
| favor. The next came In drawing for
pacemakers. Lawrence drew the paper
marked No. | and promptly selected
peerless Jimmy Hunter. Break No . in
/ his favor.
carman on the other hand. must have
angered the gods of good fortune. for
while he drew No. and should have. in
the minds of 9g99 of the 10. 900, selecte ed
Norman Anderson. the latest sensa ton
At Point Breeze as his pacemaker. he
/ thought otherwise and asked for Speedy
Nanderberry
Clarence's plan worked well for the
/ first twenty minutes of the hours drill.
. He got off to a fine start and with Van
derberry riding AT a wonderful clip stood
a fine Ehance of establishing a new rec
"A he of ba HrS mil
utes' riding he had covered eleven and
two-thrds miles. just half mile behind
the record. He was two laps ahead NJ
Wiley.
Introducing Mr.. Fate
Fate then decided that it was time 10
break into the limelight or electric light,
Al one prefers. Nanderberry was taking
/ Carman along AT a record-brea king clir
high on the boards when Carman's ma
chine struck rut carman turned a
complete somersa ult landed on his bach
with the back wheel of his bicycle
smashed to pieces.
But, as the natives of Tioga would
say. the worst was yet to come.
Victor Provost. pacing Frank 'orrie
was bearing down on the helpless Car
man at terrific speed Carman heard
the buzz of Prevost's motor drawing nigf
and endeavored to crawl down the track
to the field out of danger. Nearer anC
nearer came Provost, and as he drew
close TO Carman directly in his patti
many of the spectators and officials
turned away to escape seeing Carmar
| seriously injured. Somehow or othei
Provost and Carman did not come to
gether, but only trifle of two inches
was the margin of escape.
/ Was Carman out of the race? Not
so you could notice. Badly shaken VI
and with a chance to retire from the
track still a hero, he refused to do so
and amid the plaudits of the crowd
mounted his other machine and set sal
for Lawrence, who was leading on his
single bike.
Plot Thickens
This further angered the handlers o
fate, for this wasn't according to Hoyl,
and their plans Carman should hav'
quit. But Carman wasn't to continue
long for on the twenty-thrd mile th
skiddoo sign was hung out and he wa
forced TO retire as a result of a pune
tured tire on his only remaining ma
chine
Meanwhile, Lawrence was riding a
a fast pace behind Hunter. The crow,
was expecting at any minute to Sc
Lawrence get puncture, but they wer
disappointed. Throughout the entire rae
he didn't once appear as though h
would be forced TO quit His tires re
fused to go near any spinters. Afte
taking the lead at the time of Car
mans accident. Lawrence and Hunte
never were headed and won fror
George Wiley and Anderson by two flu
laps. The winners covered forty-si
miles, just four and three-tenths mile
less than the record held by Harr
Caldwell.
The other races were thrilling and nc
more than three yards separated tn
winners, Tomorrow evening George w
ley. Menus Bedell. Elmer Collins an
George Cameron will meet in a specii
forsy-mile paced race.