Bert you are saying with the valves opening late compression is present longer ,making it hard to turn over
Errr yes.
Well sort of.
His engine is not decompressing so you get a lumpy rotation from the starter as it gets to compression and very slowly either overcomes it or it leaks out through rings or badly sealing valves.
Next to a hydraulic lock the most common "won't start" problem I see down here.
Particularly as it is 20km to the nearest mower shop, they charge $ 75 to pick up , another $ 75 for delivery.
Most of the residents here are shinny bums working in the city 80 km away in fairly senior management positions , thus they can afford to live on 1 - 5 acres.
Obviously as they are managers any idiot can "service" a mower so they do their own thus a lot of things that are servicable get replaced and things that require adjustments never get any.
I made a big mistake when I first opened up by adjusting the valve lash while they waited, charging 1/2 labour + a gasket after they had spen $ 500 replacing every thing in the starting circuit.
This apparently hurt their egos and they never came back.
Now I hold on to the mower for at least a week, make out like it is an insurmountable problem, give the mower a good going over, a nice wash sometimes a bit of polish the send it back with a 2 hour labour charge and they think I am a genius.
The trades people OTOH get shown how to do it and appreciate the fast turn around and $ 30 bill.