PT
Wooden Spoon Battle Beckons
Posted 18/06/05
With only pride to ride for, Stoke are the
visitors to Ashfield in the re-arranged Premier Trophy meeting on
Sunday.
Many teams have complained as bad luck but Stoke must be
one of the worst hit, losing their top two riders - Jan Staechmann
and Paul Pickering - for the entire season due to injury. They have
struggled to find replacements and the makeshift nature of their team
early on in the season has caused them problems.
They now have a more settled look but are still operating
with a guest for Staechmann, choosing to bring in Rusty Harrison for
Sunday. Its a good choice as Rusty is in good form at the moment and
has already gone well round Ashfield this season. Peter Carr is supposed
to ride at number 1 but this looks unlikely as Stoke rode r/r for
him on Saturday evening and will possibly do the same on Sunday.
After a couple of home defeats in a row, Stoke have changed
their home order slightly with Robbie Kessler at no 2 with Paul Clews
at 3. Presumably they will do the same away. Kessler is always entertaining
but didn't have the best of meetings this time last year. However
he thrived in his new position at home this evening. Paul Clews has
been struggling of late and will hope the move away from the difficult
no 2 slot will help him regain form. They are joined in the middle
order by veteran Alan Mogridge, a consistent rider who has been important
for Stoke this year and whose form has been good of late.
Stoke have swapped things round in reserve a couple of times
this season and will have the relatively inexperienced pair of Barrie
Evans and Jack Hargreaves at 6 and 7. Hargreaves has only recently
come into the Potters side and is undoubtedly one for the future although
he is currently still finding his feet. Evans has surprised many by
increasing his average substantially since the start of the season
and has been relatively consistent. Away from home he does seem to
prefer the larger tracks but he will definitely give his Glasgow counterparts
problems.
Glasgow will have a very different team tomorrow with Stefan
Ekberg making his debut. Very much an unknown quantity, it is important
that we do not expect too much of him straight away. Originally Tigers
intended to use r/r for Shane to give him the extra track time then
changed their mind to bring in Stonehewer as a guest. However, with
Stonehewer injured on Friday it may well be back to r/r.
It remains to be seen how much the well publicised team changes
will affect the way the rest of the team perform as it must surely
have been unsettling. Stoke's strength appears at present to lie in
their middle order of 2,3 and 4 and whilst Glasgow have previously
been weak here, it is impossible to tell how the change will affect
this. With Matt Wethers dropping to reserve, the battle of the reserves
could be very interesting.
It will be a very difficult meeting for the Tigers, partly
down to the changes and uncertainty surrounding the team at the moment
combined with the loss of our influential captain. A lot of pressure
will be on George Stancl to lead from the front if Glasgow are to
avoid the award of the PT Northern Group wooden spoon.
