Half Time and Handbags
v Reading, Posted 11/07/04

Some hard riding, some good passing and a little bit of handbags thrown in for good measure. Not a bad meeting but Glasgow took far too long to get into it and leave themselves an uphill climb for tomorrows second leg.

An ominous start to the first heat when on the first bend Appleton and Bentley collided, both riders coming down heavily. From the re-run Danny Bird held off George Stancl to claim a heat advantage for the racers. Johnson gated well in heat 2 but was passed by Blackman on heat 1 followed by Carrillo a lap later and Glasgow had their first 5-1 of the meeting.

Every race Grieves and Morris have had at Ashfield this year has been hard and heat 3 was no different. Morris seemed a bit over exhuberant on the final bend but Grieves held on for the win. Heat 4 saw a comfortable win for Parker but disappointingly Dicken and Grieves were to concede a 1-5 in heat 5.

Bentley struggled badly in heat 6 and it was no surprise afterwards when the Doctor was called to the pits and he was withdrawn from the meeting with an ankle injury.

A shared heat 7 was followed by a heat advantage to Reading in heat 8 and Glasgow were labouring badly.

The first running of heat 9 was called back for an unsatisfactory start and in the re-run Dicken appeared to be taken wide but the referee let it go. Dicken was not prepared to when returning to the pits and there was a little bit of 'handbags' between him and Frede Schott which was quickly calmed down.

Carrillo surspisingly came down in heat 10 on the third lap and was excluded but Stancl won the re-run from the gate.

Heat 11 provided the pass of the night between Parker and Bird. Just when it looked as if Bird had it won, Parker swept round the outside of him on the second bend of the final lap. Credit has to be given to both riders for an excellent race though and allowing each other to race.

Glasgows fightback started in earnest heat 12 with an easy 5-1 for Dicken and Carrillo and the score was repeated in heat 13. Schott had to start 15m back after breaking the tapes and Stancl rode an exceptional race to fend off Danny Bird.

Heat 14 saw the third 5-1 in a row from Grieves and Carrillo despite the American being rammed by Phil Morris at the end of the second lap, a manoevre he shoudl have been excluded for. Carrillo did very well to not only stay on the bike but retain second place.

The impressive Bird gated well in heat 15 but Parker shot passed him to ensure the Tigers took a 10 point lead with them into the second leg.

The winning margin is unlikely to be enough for Glasgow - if only they could have shown the determination of later heats earlier on it could have been so different.

It was however a very entertaining meeting between two teams who are getting to know each other rather well 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	***	A solid performance
Paul Bentley	*	Injury in his first race make it unfair to judge
Lee Dicken	**	Agressive but otherwise unimpressed
James Grieves	****	A decent meeting
Shane Parker	*****	Enough Said!
Corey Blackman	**	Still Struggling
Eric Carrillo	***	A good showing again