Tiger's
Claus
Posted 10/05/05
After a long search, Glasgow have today announced
Dane Claus Kristensen as the replacement for Paul Bentley.
Claus burst onto the British scene
in 1999 with Berwick before moving on to spend two years at Swindon.
He returned to Berwick in 2002 and was a member of the Berwick team
that won the fours at Coventry that season.
He has had a difficult year, being
dropped from Berwick last September and having a poor start to the
season with Newcastle this year. He has now been dropped from the
Newcastle side in favour of Dickie Juul but Glasgow have stepped in
and offered him a position meantime. He will make his debut on Friday
night at Somerset.
It is no secret that he was not near
the top of Glasgow's wanted list - co-promoter Stewart Dickson made
it quite clear at last Sunday's meeting that a number of riders had
been approached and it was getting to the desperate stage with many
just unwilling to travel.
His average is thought to be around
the 5.28 mark, he has struggled to find any sort of form so far this
season and has not looked particularly good on the Ashfield track
on previous visits.
However he is willing to ride for
Glasgow, the travelling is obviously not a problem and he does have
a lot to prove. He has shown previously that he is capable of an average
in excess of 7.5 and the promotion will be hoping that the change
of club can be a catalyst to acheiving this again.
Many fans will feel it is another
gamble - which it is - and that Glasgow are still extremely weak at
middle order - which they are - but it seems that the promotion had
no options. Claus is one of the nicer guys in speedway and will no
doubt give 100%. Time will tell if that is enough but we wish him
all the best.
Perhaps the bingo hall near Ashfield
worked in Glasgow's favour - Claus has taken a great deal of ribbing
and been dubbed 'housey housey Claus-ey' since the speedway star revealed
his liking for bingo!
Good Luck Claus and welcome to Glasgow.
