Newcastle
Preview
Posted 30/04/05
This weekend sees the return of a Tigers
favourite, James Grieves, with his current club Newcastle in what
promises to be a close and entertaining encounter.
Little needs to be said of Grieves ability round
Ashfield - the only rider to average more than him there last season
(other than Stead and Harris who are now EL and only rode 2 and 1
meetings there respectively) is of course his direct opponent tomorrow
Shane Parker.
James has been in tremendous form for the Diamonds
and will want to remind the Glasgow fans just what they are missing.
Fellow heat leader Phil Morris missed a couple of meetings due to
injury earlier this month. His home form has been relatively good
but he has struggled a little on the smaller away tracks. He rode
as a guest for Glasgow at the end of last season in the Scottish Cup
at Ashfield and struggled that day but the hard riding Welshman should
not be underestimated.
The middle order competition could be interesting.
Kristensen has struggled of late and in the past has not done well
at Ashfield. He is thought to be under a bit of pressure to do better
and has been getting a little stick from the fans. Pepe Franc, who
followed him down the A1 from Berwick last season, is on form and
has been scoring well. He rode very well last year at Ashfield, possibly
even better than his score suggested, and will be a difficult opponent.
Christian Henry has a fair bit of experience of Ashfield but has been
struggling this season, reportedly having a few problems with machinery.
It was well documented that Glasgow were thwarted
in their efforts to sign Lubos Tomicek in the close season and it
will be interesting to see how he fairs on his first ever visit. There
are a lot of expectations on the young Czech and his form so far has
been erratic. He is accompanied at reserve by Jamie Robertson. Sometimes
petulant, there is no doubt that he is a decent rider when he can
focus. He also appears to be coming in for a fair bit of criticism
at the moment which seems to be affecting him a little and he does
seem to find things more difficult on the smaller tracks.
George and Shane will have their work cut out against
Grieves and if Morris hits form heats 13 and 15 could be excellent
entertainment. It will be interesting to see how Bentley performs
given last weeks turn of events. James Birkinshaw should be bouyed
by his performance as a guest at Sheffield last Thursday and put last
weeks fall behind him. Matthew has been erratic so far this season
and needs to settle down, again the visit of Newcastle offers him
the opportunity to do so as, with the exception of Franc, Newcastle's
middle order are at best on a par with Glasgow's. Trent's form of
late should make life very difficult for the Newcastle reserves. James
Cockle will hopefully have put his machinery problems of the last
week behind him. Again, the racing between the respective reserves
looks as though it could also be very entertaining and it should all
add up to a good meeting at Ashfield.
Anticipated Line Ups are: -
Glasgow
- George Stancl
- Matthew Wethers
- Jamie Birkinshaw
- Paul Bentley
- Shane Parker
- Trent Leverington
- James Cockle
Newcastle
- Phil Morris
- Christian Henry
- Claus Kristensen
- Josef Franc
- James Grieves
- Lubos Tomicek
- Jamie Robertson
