Hull Take Home Record
Posted 01/08/04

With home expert James Grieves missing, and the problematical no 2 slot still to be resolved, champions elect Hull were probably the last team Glasgow wanted to face and the home record was always going to be in danger.

Right from the start Hull signalled their intentions with a rare but convincing 5-1 for the away team in the opening heat. Glasgow did manage to claw their way back from this into the meeting before the worryingly increasingly common capitulation of the final three heats.

Take nothing away from Hull, they came as a team, rode as a team and won as a team. They were, unsurprisingly, gating expertly with Carrillo the only Glasgow rider who seemed able to match them out of the traps. Love him or loathe him Thorp is value for money and showed his experience in heat 11 to pressurise James Cockle to make a mistake and allow him through.

Tempers flared early on in the meeting with a confrontation between Stead and Bentley at the end of heat 3 which carried on in the pits. There is history between the two but the incident was nothing more than the often quoted 'handbags' and was quickly dealt with.

In a meeting that saw scores remain close throughout and hence avoid the dreaded tactical rides, racing was also close and there was some good passing, noteably Carrillo in heat 5 after a shocking start and Thorp on Carrillo in heat 8. Heat 5 also saw Ross Brady injure a finger in first bend bunching at the first attempt of running, an injury that was later to cause him to withdraw from the meeting.

Heat 11 saw Thorp off 15m after breaking the tapes and in all honesty everyone would expect Cockle to merely be making up the numbers in that heat. However the youngster rode a terrific race holding Thorp off for 3 3/4 laps before Thorp's 20 years of experience finally pressured him onto the vital mistake on the final bend. It was a superb ride by the youngster though and won him a lot of praise from the Glasgow following.

This was followed by an excellent heat 12 battle between Carrillo and Stead with Stead coming out on top.

Glasgow at this stage must have felt confident but Stancl's engine gremlins struck again in heat 13 whilst he was challenging for the lead and things went downhill from there on in. Heat 14 showed how tiring Leverington and Carrillo were finding all the extra racing and Hull easily took a 5-1.

Unbelieveably, despite the clear indications in heat 14, Glasgow chose to put Trent out in heat 15, a very poor managerial decision in my opinion with Glasgow needing at least a 4-2 to protect their home record. However it was Hull who were to claim the 4-2 making it a full house in the league against Glasgow this season.

For Glasgow it was an expensive day. Stancl blew two engiunes again and Bentley had what must surely be his worst home meeting this year. Thankfully Leverington was an excellent guest although he faded towards the end and the extra races also seem to be taking their toll on Eric. As with Shane, you always get the effort from Eric though. Young James Cockle did well and was unlucky not to score. He was against one of the strongest reserve pairings in the league and was not off the pace. His heat 11 ride may well prove good enough to hav the promotion considering offering him the free reserve berth for the remainder of the season although distance may preclude it.

Hull were deserved victors on the day and surely no one can now stop them from claiming that elusive but thoroughly deserved league title this season.

The scorecard and heat details can be found here.

Pictures from this meeting courtesy of Lioness can be found here

Tiger Points:

George Stancl	**	Two enginge failures is unacceptable
Paul Bentley	*	Very poor
Trent Leverington	****	An excellent guest but striggled at the end
Shane Parker	***	Steady as always
James Cockle	**	A good effort and not off the pace
Eric Carrillo	***	Ever reliable but being asked too much of