Page:The fastest bicycle rider in the world - 1928 - Taylor.djvu/125

 a hair-raiser, but Major Taylor and Hugh McLean went down on the last lap at the 220-yard post. As it was the time was a record for the Oval. The spill allowed Frank Butler to capture this event with Jimmie Casey 10 yards in his rear and ‘Nellie’ Bly third. In this race Nat Butler and Major Taylor were on scratch, Watson Coleman and Frank Butler had a 20-yard handicap, James J. Casey 35 yards, Hugh McLean 40 yards, A. A. McClean 50 yards, James Urquhart, 60 yards, and ‘Nellie’ Bly 75 yards.

“Major Taylor rode a clever race against Casey in the five-mile pursuit number. The track did not seem to bother him in the least and he took the turns with ease. He rode the first two miles slower than Casey, being seven seconds slower in the first mile but gained during the progress of the second mile and was but 1 4/5 seconds slower than Casey, whose time was five minutes flat. Both rode pretty evenly in the third mile, Casey having an edge of 3/5 of a second on Taylor in this mile.

“From the third mile on it was Taylor’s race as it could be plainly seen that Casey was not moving along as fast as he had been; he looked tired. He clung gamely to his task, however, and was but 3 4/5 seconds behind Taylor at the fourth mile. Taylor was riding strong and hit up a fast clip on the last mile, winning the race by a quarter of a lap. Taylor’s time for the five miles was 12:52.” Major Taylor received a splendid ovation from his Worcester admirers.