LAST of three 50-mile time trials which form part of the South East All-Rounder Competition takes place near Wimborne tomorrow - and, with last year's champion James Clarke (Salisbury RC) not defending his title, his clubmate, Paul Whatley, is emerging as his likely successor.

Third overall a year ago with an average speed of 23.369 mph for the three distances, Whatley is one of six entrants from his club for this Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers promotion.

He has already improved his 50-mile time by nearly four minutes on a year ago after clocking 1 hour 55 minutes 11 seconds in his own club's race staged at Andover last month, and will start tomorrow without having to worry about Steve Clark, the Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers veteran who pipped him for second place in the district BAR contest thanks mainly to a superior 200-mile time last year.

Clark is not riding tomorrow's race but, with a dozen riders who include Steve Pye, the winner of the Dorset CA 25 last Sunday, and Paul Foxwall, the Dorset club are favourites to win the team honours to avenge their defeat by Salisbury RC in that event.

With no 12-hour race being staged in the district this season, district BAR contenders can select any one of the other ten half-day events listed nation-wide, and this change makes Paul Rogers (VC St Raphael Wait Contracts) an obvious candidate for victory, provided he completes the last remaining 100-mile time trial which Antelope RT organises on August 20.

The 36-year-old Gosport all-rounder holds the scratch mark in tomorrow's 50 and is making no secret of his aim to improve on the fifth place he gained in the national BAR last year, but though that objective is within his abilities the chances of his club to retain the team title in this contest are being hampered by a lack of co-ordination by some other members of his team.

Pat Lafford and Andy Stevens of Crabwood CC plus Ray Gee, Jonathan Legg, Alan Sharpen, Norman Harvey and Mary Churcher (the last on a tandem) represent the Southampton area in a race which starts in Sturminster Marshall at 6.12am.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.