Jake de Rosier, who had gone to England to take part in this race, came in twelfth, but he had encountered hard luck, and his performance was most creditable. During his practice riding on the course he had six severe falls, which did not leave him in any too good condition for the great trial. In the race he was leader of the first lap, but dropped back a little on the second, and on the third had a fall which nearly put him out of commission. He really was in a dazed condition, and it required great nerve to keep on riding as he did, and finish the entire course.
JR. Alexander, the fifth Indian entered, was the twentieth man home, but was really the hero of the team. In rounding a bend in the road he came upon another rider falling directly in front of him. This brought Alexander down, and he stripped everything from one side of his machine and sustained a terrible cut on his knee. Not withstanding this, he got his machine started again and completed the lap, with his leg dangling, before fitting his extra foot rests.
In the meantime he had to hang onto his ignition connection with one hand as it had been detached from the handle bar by his fall. Owing to his insecure position he sustained a second fall before the end of the lap, which broke his rear mud-guard containing the nail catcher, and afterwards he had two punctures in his rear tyre. Even with all these mishaps and delays, he was not the last man to finish, and he brought his machine home, making a clean score for the Indian team.
The road conditions, from an English point of view, are described as very bad, and even de Rosier, who knows something of American roads, remarked: "This race ain't going to be no tea party". The elimination and retirement of more than half of the machines fully corroborates de Rosier's opinion.
When the reports of the marshals came in, it was found that Collier had taken on gasoline and received assistance twice during the race at unauthorized controls, and as this was in direct violation of the rules protests were sustained, and Collier was disqualified.
De Rosier lost the bag containing all his tools and spare parts in the second round, and when he damaged his machine in his fall he had nothing to repair with, and one of his spark plugs was out of commission. He had to ride three miles on one cylinder, to the next control, but as he desired to have the credit of finishing the race, he got spare parts and tools from his attendants, fixed his machine and continued.
The delay of the accident had, of course, lost him all chance of first place, and the necessity of accepting outside assistance disqualified him according to the rules, but he still has the satisfaction of having finished, which made a clean score for the Indian team, Collier's disqualification giving the first three places in the race to Indians ridden by Godfrey, Franklin, and Moorhouse.
It was a great victory well worth the running and well worth the winning.
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