Armadale
Victory at Last!
23/07/05
Its been a long time coming but the Tigers
at last ended the Dale Drought by coming away with a deserved victory
in the first leg of the Scottish Cup.
They did not get off to a good start however when
Lund and Werner comprehensively beat the Stancl and Leverington from
the gate to start with an easy 5-1.
Will Lawson as expected hit the front at the start
of the second heat with Adam and James in second and third. It was
to be quite an eventful heat with Ksiezak falling at the back at the
end of the first lap and remounting. Lawson then suffered engine failure
whilst comfortably in the lead on the second lap leaving the Tigers
youngsters on a 5-1. Ksiezak was to fall again at the end of his third
lap and only just managed to remount and avoid being lapped by Adam
Roynon who won the heat in a very respectable 58.2 time.
Nermark gated in heat 3 but the battle was for second
with Ekberg having to work hard to fend off Cameron Woodward. Unfortunately
on the third lap Stefan appeared to hit a bump whilst under considerable
pressure from the Monarch and spectacularly high sided over the bike.
The race was awarded but thankfully Stefan was able to walk away,
albeit gingerly, from the nasty looking accident.
Shane Parker came out and showed his class in heat
4 by holding off Rusty Harrison who tried everything to catch the
Glasgow man. The only pass in this heat was to be a cheeky 'Peter
Carr' style cut up the inside of Robert Ksiezak on the second bend
of the first lap by Adam Roynon.
Heat 5 was eventful though not because of good racing.
In the first running Trent locked up a little on the apex of the third
and fourth bend leaving Woodward unable to avoid him and both riders
hit the deck. Trent seemed annoyed at his exclusion and it is an area
that referees are not consistent in. Perhaps worth a try from Trent's
point of view but it seemed the correct decision. The re-run saw Nermark
fall and remount on the second bend of the second lap whilst lying
second - unlucky number 2 obviously. Woodward then suffered an engine
failure at the end of the second lap, leaving only two riders. Stancl
kept out of all of the drama and won easily having led from the gate.
Lund outgated Shane in heat 6 but was passed by the
Aussie on the back straight and it was game over. Harrison won from
the gate in heat 7 with Stefan having to work very hard under pressure
from Lawson to hold on to second place. The Monarchs went on to open
up a 5 point gap after heat 8, Trent getting the better of Lund in
the battle for second place to save Tigers a bigger deficit. Adam
Roynon appeared to have engine problems at the back and coasted the
final lap.
Tigers come back started with heat 9, Shane winning
in the fastest time of the night and James Cockle getting the important
3rd place after Woodward had fallen ahead of him at the end of the
second lap. Heat 10 again showed that Stefan's influence is not merely
in the points he scored when he shepherded and protected partner Kristensen
in the early laps after the Tigers pair gated and they went on to
record an unexpected 5-1 for Glasgow.
George Stancl rode an excellent first bend in heat
11, there was no passing and another heat advantage went Glasgow's
way.
There was a bit of a comedy of errors from Edinburgh
in heat 12. Ekberg was well ahead when Woodward locked up on the third
bend impeding his partner Lawson. James Cockle took full advantage
and came through into second. Woodward fought back with a lot of determination
and although he was able to catch and pass James, Stefan held on for
the victory.
A shared and awarded heat 13 followed after George
fell at the end of the third lap trying to pressurise second place
Harrison.
In all honesty at this stage it looked as if it may
go to a last heat decider with Tigers fans a little apprehensive about
heat 14. When Nermark and Lawson gated, it looked as if the fears
would be founded but Adam Roynon had other ideas. His partner Kristensen
actually held him up in the opening stages but Adam set off in pursuit
and came under Lawson on the third bend of the second lap to claim
second. Moments later Lawson pulled up with engine failure. Adam gave
chase to Nermark and was catching him all the way but ran out of time.
A very impressive race from the youngster and one he obviously enjoyed
as shown by his celebrations when he came round to take the applause
of the fans.
Heat 15 was really a bit of a formality but Shane
came out to easily complete an impressive maximum ahead of Nermark
and Stancl.
Edinburgh did have some bad luck but your luck is
only bad when the opposition take advantage of it. Nermark scored
well without looking impressive whilst Harrison was always a danger.
Lund looks a better rider than he did with Newport, Woodward was determined.
It was a well deserved victory for the Tigers on
a track that saw its fair share of fallers and a few more wobble's
where riders stayed on. Being five down after 8, the fight back was
impressive with Tigers recording five heat victories and two shared
heats in the last seven races. Shane was a different class and Adam
definitely grew in stature. Stefan coped well after his fall and once
again showed good team riding skills in heat 10. James Cockle quietly
went about his business, getting his share of important points. Its
not Trent's favourite track and many felt he was unlucky to be excluded
in heat 5 but he came back well and battled hard. Similarly, Claus
struggles at this track and his race win helped his score to look
respectable.
The scorecard and heat details can be found here.
Tiger Performance Points:
| George Stancl |
*** |
Solid |
| Trent Leverington |
*** |
tried hard |
| Stefan Ekberg |
*** |
important contribution again |
| Claus Kristensen |
** |
other than the heat win, he looked off pace |
| Shane Parker |
***** |
untouchable |
| Adam Roynon |
**** |
another good away performance |
| James Cockle |
*** |
quiet but worked hard |
