Edinburgh vs Colonies 30/05/1939

Edinburgh 24 30 May 1939
Colonies 30 Challenge
Edinburgh 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 T B
1. Oliver Hart 2 2 3 7
2. Chick Brine 0 1' 2' 3 2
3. Laurie Packer 0 2 2 4
4. Jack Hancock 1 0 0 1
5. Jack Gordon 3 2 3 8
6. Bill Nisbet 1 0 0 1
Colonies
1. Eric Chitty 3 1 3 7
2. Fred Belliveau 1 3 1 5
3. Jimmy Gibb 3 3 2 8
4. Elwood Stilwell 2' 0 1' 3 2
5. Charlie Spinks 2 2 0 4
6. Gruff Garland 0 1' 1 2 1
Heat 1 Chitty, Hart, Belliveau, Brine 1min 20 T/R
Heat 2 Gibb, Stilwell, Hancock, Parker 1min 25.2
Heat 3 Gordon, Spinks, Nisbet, Garland 1min 23.6
Heat 4 Gibb, Hart, Brine, Stilwell 1min 25
Heat 5 Spinks, Packer, Garland, Hancock 1min 24.8
Heat 6 Belliveau, Gordon, Chitty, Nisbet 1min 26.8
Heat 7 Hart, Brine, Garland, Spinks 1min 23.8
Heat 8 Chitty, Packer, Belliveau, Hancock 1min
Heat 9 Gordon, Gibb, Stilwell, Nisbet 1min 23.8

Match Race 
Tiger Stevenson Bt Oliver Hart 1min 22.8

Match Race 
Dick Dennie Bt Norrie Isbister (f) 1min 31.4

Scottish Silver Gauntlet 
Heat 1 Eric Chitty, Laurie Packer, Elwood Stilwell, Leo Lungo 1min 22
Heat 2 Jimmy Gibb, Jack Gordon, Jack Hancock, Chick Brine 1min 24.2
Heat 3 Charlie Spinks, Norrie Isbister, Tiger Stevenson, Bill Nisbet (ns) 1min 21.6
Heat 4 Oliver Hart, Gruff Garland, Fred Belliveau, Dick Dennie 1min 23
Final: Eric Chitty, Oliver Hart, Jimmy Gibb, Charlie Spinks 1min 20
 Once again, on 30 May, the opposition team proved too strong for the Edinburgh team at the Marine Gardens. The home side were defeated by a team of Dominion riders captained by Eric Chitty, Canada. The final score was Edinburgh 24 points, Dominions 30 points.

The outstanding riders were Jack Gordon, Edinburgh, who scored eight points and Jimmy Gibb, Canada, who also scored eight.

In the opening heat Eric Chitty rode a magnificent race to lower the track record by one fifth of a second, his time being 1 min 20 secs. He repeated this performance in the final of the Scottish Silver Gauntlet.

The Dominions had the best of the racing throughout and never looked like being overtaken, despite the valiant attempt of Jack Gordon and Oliver Hart to lower Edinburgh’s deficit.

Jack Gordon especially had bad luck in heat six. When Citty’s machine failed Gordon took the lead only to over slide. He remounted but could finish only second. Chitty’s machine picked up and with his usual daring riding he fought his way up to third place, to gain another point for his side.

The final heat of the team race provided some excitement when Jack Gordon jumped into a substantial lead in front of Jimmy Gibb who, although he gained on Gordon with every lap, just failed in his fine effort. This defeat prevented Gibb from gaining maximum points.

Some stylish riding was witnessed in a match between Tiger Stevenson and Oliver Hart, the former getting off his mark quickly and holding his lead for the entire distance. In the other match race Isbister came to grief, leaving Dennie to finish alone.

The trophy up for competition was the Scottish Silver Gauntlet and the Dominion riders were well to the fore in the final, the line up being Chitty, Gibb, Spinks and Hart, the Edinburgh captain. In the preceding heats Chitty had an easy win as had Jimmy Gibb. The race between Spinks and Stevenson however, was a different matter, both riders tearing round the track shoulder to shoulder even on the bends. Spinks however spurted ahead to gain a deserved win.

The final race again proved the superiority of Eric Chitty who, although behind at the start, fought for the lead from Oliver Hart, to win a splendid race in time which equalled his earlier record run.