Page:The fastest bicycle rider in the world - 1928 - Taylor.djvu/136



“Who will be the Cycle Champion of 1900? Racing Season begins Thursday and struggle for Title promises to be unusually keen. Experts pick Frank Kramer. American cycle racing season will open next Thursday in Louisville, where at Mountain Ferry track the stars will meet for the first time. One week later Vailsberg will open and several other New England tracks will open about this time. There will be a vast increase in the number of competitors this season which has been apparent in the.request for both amateur and professional registrations at the office of the board of control of the N. C. A.

“Big match races will be the feature of the season, but the sprint race field includes more prominent men than ever before. The professional champions of both the N. C. A. and the L. A. W. of last year, and the amateur champions of both organizations will come together in professional ranks this year. The sprinters who planned European trips have decided with one exception to remain at home, but one prominent rider, and one coming champion, Elks and Ross will be missed from the paced ranks. Just at this time there is a lot of talk regarding the probable champion of the season among the professional and amateur sprint riders.

“The decision of Tom Cooper, the champion of last season, and Earl Kiser, his closest competitor, to remain on this side has added great interest to the problem. The entry of the stars in the amateur ranks, and the probability of Major Taylor’s name being added to the list of competitors, and Eddie Bald’s decision to go out again for the championship has complicated matters and made the discussion even more interesting. Cooper was the N. C. A. champion last season, and the year Arthur Gardiner was considered one of the champions and for three years previous to that Eddie Bald held the honors. Major Taylor was champion last season under the L. A. W. For the past several seasons Orlando Stevens has been a prominent factor in the championship race. Frank Kramer, amateur champion the past season, and Jimmie Moran, who held the same honors under the L. A. W. have both become professionals with the opening of the season. Floyd MacFarland promises to figure more prominently in the race this year, as does Al Newhouse. In addition to these men Howard Freeman is liberally touted and Hardy Downing, the Californian, may give the best of them a rub. These men are all sprinters of the first rank. Among many who have watched the development with