Glasgow
Lose Again
Posted
06/06/05
Glasgow's season already looks to be over
after they lost their second home league meeting with what, at best,
can be described as a very poor performance. Workington are unlikely
to have an easier away win all year.
The Tigers were on the back foot right from the start
when Stonehewer outgated Stancl and won the opening heat from the
tapes with his partner Little taking third. Wright was always going
to be a formidable opponent and took heat two from the gate. The action
happened at the back. James Cockle had reared at the start and found
himself in third. He wobbled on the third bend of the second lap allowing
young Adam Roynon through. However Roynon then locked up on the 4th
bend allowing Cockle back through with Roynon coming off his bike
in an attempt to save it. All credit to the youngster for quickly
clearing the track.
Trent Leverington made a bad gate in heat 3 and appeared
to have bike problems. Matt Wethers did manage to split the Workington
pair and Trent did keep trying to catch Robson, although clipping
the boards on the second bend final time round let Robson finish comfortably.
This was followed by a well strung out shared heat 4, won by Parker
after he went round the outside of the fast gating Tacey on the opening
bends. Again, Workington beat the Glasgow pairing out of the gate
in heat 5 but Trent came under Little on the second bend to split
them and despite Little's efforts he was able to hold on for the second
place.
Unbelievably it was heat 6 before Glasgow had a heat
advantage in this meeting. The race was re-run after George ended
up the victim of a first bend racing incident, colliding with the
fence after a coming together with Stonehewer. Despite the protestations
of the crowd, the referee correctly called it as all four back. George
reacted positively by gating well in the re-run whilst partner Wethers
played his part in temporarily blocking Stonehewer on the first bend.
Stonehewer gave chase and never gave up trying but Stancl was able
to thwart every move he made to ensure the 4-2.
James and Shane were again first out of the traps
in heat 7 but this time Shane was unable to protect the youngster
and when Tacey got past Cockle at the end of the second lap he had
to pull away to make sure of the heat win. Robson also got the better
of Cockle on the second bend of the final lap for a shared heat. Heat
9 was shared from the gate although Adam Roynon threatened Birkinshaw
at the back for the entire race.
With Glasgow now 8 behind, they brought Shane in
as a GDTS of 15m in heat 10. Stancl did well to slow the race right
down and allow his partner to get into the mix but once again suffered
an engine failure at the end of the second lap whilst leading. It
did allow Shane to get past Tacey and give chase. The race went all
the way to the line and although Robson looked to have held it by
the narrowest of margins the referee surprisingly awarded the win
to Shane. Heat 11 was shared from the gate. It looked as though heat
12 may also be from the gate with the Workington pair out in front
but Trent came under James Wright on the third bend of the first lap
and managed to hold him off for the remainder of the race.
Heat 13 was pretty mundane, Stonehewer took Parker
wide on the opening bends and went on to win a spread out shared heat.
The referee again incurred the wrath of the Glasgow fans - this time
rightly so - when he called back heat 14 for an unsatisfactory start
with the Tigers out in front and declared that it was caused by Wright
moving at the tapes. The second running actually looked more ragged
but the referee allowed it to go. The Workington pairing won easily
from the tapes.
The Workington management team effectively delivered
a final insult by bringing out non scoring reserve Adam Roynon in
heat 15 but in fairness to the youngster he was not exactly off the
pace. Parker won the heat from the gate with Stancl 3rd.
Overall, a poor meeting with very little passing
and an easy win for the away side. Workington led for the entire meeting,
even with the Tigers using the GDTS, which for a team at home is completely
unacceptable. Ignoring the extra points scored for the tactical ride,
Glasgow only got two heat advantages the entire evening, both at the
expense of Workington's novice reserve. To be beaten at home is one
thing but when the other side basically does not have to move out
of first gear to do it is a disgrace and it was no surprise that the
supporters are now becoming more vocal in their call for change. Alan
Dick mentioned at the end that there WOULD be changes before the next
home meeting. There has to be, otherwise the wooden spoon will be
heading to Ashfield.
Workington thoroughly deserved their win but as said
previously its unlikely that they will get it as easy at any other
track.
The scorecard and heat details can be found here.
Pictures from home meetings can normally be found
on Ian Adams Website
or Lioness'
Webshots Site within a day or two of the meeting.
Tiger Performance Points:
| George Stancl |
** |
not his usual high standard |
| Matthew Wethers |
** |
still just falling short |
| Trent Leverington |
*** |
not one of his better meetings but never gave up |
| r/r |
|
returned 3+1 |
| Shane Parker |
**** |
only one exempt from the criticism |
| James Cockle |
** |
a poor day but stayed behind on track to work on it |
| Jamie Birkinshaw |
* |
very poor especially after previous improvement |
