Easy
Win for Sheffield
Posted 08/04/05, by Casper
It would be easy to try and blame the awful
Owlerton track for tonight's poor display - and the track was terrible
- but in all honesty it probably made little difference in the end
as a mainly poor Glasgow side were no match for the confident Sheffield
outfit.
Last year at the PLRC we were told the state of Sheffield's
circuit was a one off but it did look every bit as bad again for this
meeting and being generous that would not suit the Glasgow riders.
With two relatively unchallenged 5-1's in the first
two heats, it was clear from the off that it would not be a good night
for Glasgow, especially with George Stancl unable to challenge Ben
Wilson in the opening heat, never mind Sean Wilson. Jamie Birkinshaw
got a good second in heat 3 to stop the maximums against but heat
4 saw them return with Shane Parker a poor third behind Andre Compton
and Kyle Legault.
The track was re graded at this stage and it seemed
to improve the surface a little. Glasgow sent Stancl out as a tactical
ride in heat 5 and were slightly fortunate to get four points from
the manoeuvre after Richard Hall suffered an engine failure ahead
of him on lap 2. Shane obviously felt the re-grading helped the track
as he looked more like himself in heat 6 but was still unable to get
the better of the impressive Sean Wilson. Another 4-2 was to follow
in heat 7. Birkinshaw was looking by far the best Tiger and it was
obviously with this in mind that Stewart brought him in as Golden
Double Tactical from 15m back in heat 8 at the expense of Trent. Jamie
rode an excellent race, looking very impressive but only just failing
to catch Ben Wilson.
Heat 9 saw the final tactical ride given to Shane
who now seemed to be more comfortable with the track and won from
the gate. Birkinshaw split the Wilson's in heat 10 after being out
gated by both before a mistake by Paul Cooper in heat 11 allowed Wethers
through and get a shared heat. Heat 12 was also shared but it was
followed by two 5-1's for the home team with the Glasgow riders easily
beaten. With only heat 15 left to try and keep the score under 60,
the first running saw Glasgow's start man Birkinshaw take a heavy
collision with the first bend fence. Thankfully he was able to walk
away. The rerun saw Parker come down on the first bend but the referee
called all 3 back. Third time lucky saw Shane out gate the opposition
but both Sheffield riders swooped round the outside of him on the
second bend. Shane kept battling and was able to split the two Sheffield
riders after passing Compton when the two Sheffield riders seemed
more intent on racing each other rather than as a pair.
There was a lot of pressure put on James Birkinshaw
before tonight's meeting to do well, perhaps even too much, but the
ex-Sheffield rider rose to the challenge and was undoubtedly Glasgow's
best rider. Unfortunately there was little or no back up from the
rest of the team on a night that verged on the embarrassing even taking
into account the terrible state of the Sheffield track. The bonus
point is realistically well out of reach but Glasgow have to try and
regain some credibility on Sunday in the return leg.
The scorecard and heat details can be found here.
Tiger Performance Points: (based on the comments
made to me by Casper)
| George Stancl |
** |
Poor by his standards |
| Matthew Wethers |
* |
Poor |
| Jamie Birkinshaw |
***** |
Undoubtedly the best Glasgow man |
| Paul Bentley |
* |
Shocking |
| Shane Parker |
*** |
Got better after track re grade and tried hard |
| Mark Thompson |
* |
Difficult meeting against two good reserves. Tried |
| Trent Leverington |
* |
Looked uncomfortable on the track |
