Tigers
Thrash Vikings
Posted 08/07/05
The Tigers bounced back to form this afternoon
against a very weak Hull side and recorded the highest league win
at Ashfield. The margin could have been even greater had it not been
for a very poor refereeing decision and a shed chain yards from the
finish line.
Glasgow posted their intentions right from the start
with Stancl winning the opening heat from the tapes. Partner Leverington
was last out of the gate but second coming out of the second bend
and it was all over. This was followed by an emphatic 5-1 from the
reserves in heat 2, James Cockle claiming the win.
What was to prove Hulls only heat win was recorded
by Craig Branney in heat 3.Claus Kristensen was first away although
Stefan Ekberg was at the back after completely missing the gate. It
was all change on the third bend of the first lap however with Branney
going round Kristensen coming out of the third bend whilst Ekberg
claimed third by cutting under Kramer at the same time. Ekberg had
to work hard to fend Kramer off for the remainder of the heat to ensure
a share of the spoils.
Although heat 4 was won from the gate by Shane Parker, Gary Stead
made him work for it for all four laps. James Cockle was pressurizing
Stead in the early stages but made an error pushing him too far wide
at the end of the first lap.
As expected Hull brought out Thorp as a TR in heat
5. It looked as if the race would be won by the Tigers from the gate
although Thorp momentarily got passed Ekberg on the final bend. Stefan
however drove for the line beating him by half a wheel but for the
second week running the referee seemed to be calling races on the
final bend rather than the line and unbelievably awarded second to
Thorp. A second stroke of bad luck followed in heat 6 with Glasgow
on a 5-1 and Stancl well out in front when he threw a chain on the
final bend.
Adam Roynon was not gating well and it gave him a
lot of work to do in heat 7 being significantly behind the others
by the first bend. He battled hard however and was very unlucky not
to catch Kramer on the line. Shane Parker won the heat easily.
Glasgow's third 5-1 of the day came in heat 8 courtesy
of a tapes to flag win for James Cockle with Trent Leverington executing
an excellent inside pass on Paul Thorp on the third bend of the third
lap to go on and claim second place.
Gary Stead took the second TR of the day in heat
9 and although he briefly led at the end of the first lap after going
round the outside of Kristensen on the second bend and the inside
of Ekberg on the third bend. Ekberg immediately passed the Viking
back whilst Kristensen came from nowhere to swoop round the outside
of him on bend four and it was race over.
In the first running of heat 10, Kramer threw a chain
on the opening bend whilst Branney slid off on his own accord. As
a result the referee excluded Branney as the cause of the stoppage
and ruled Kramer out also as he had not been under power at the time
Kramer went down. So it was down to George v Trent in the re-run,
a 'race' which George won despite nearly coming off himself on the
third bend of lap 3!
After an unsatisfactory start, Shane won a well spread
out and shared heat 11. Kramer came in as a tactical substitute in
heat 12 but was unable to mount a challenge on James Cockle who won
from the gate and Stefan Ekberg who followed James round and protected
him well when necessary. Kramer's team mate Craig Branney sensibly
pulled up on the last lap to allow Kramer to get the extra point.
Hull were now a completely broken team and despite
there still being the matter of the bonus point in the return leg
at Hull they offered little resistance as the last three heats were
won 5-1, 4-2, 5-1 from the gate.
Overall Hull were a very poor side but the Tigers
still had to make sure they took full advantage and they did. There
were no real negatives in the Tigers performance today and quite a
few positives, the main ones being the performances of Claus Kristensen
and James Cockle who was flying on his newly tuned bike. A good all
round performance and the Tigers might even feel confident about securing
the bonus point in this one!
The scorecard and heat details can be found here.
Tiger Performance Points:
| George Stancl |
*** |
chain rather than ef stopped his maximum |
| Trent Leverington |
**** |
Thoroughly deserved first paid max |
| Stefan Ekberg |
*** |
riding through the pain barrier, team man |
| Claus Kristensen |
*** |
massive improvement |
| Shane Parker |
**** |
another flawless maximum |
| Adam Roynon |
*** |
unlucky to come up against Stead twice |
| James Cockle |
**** |
determined and focused, more confident |
