Tigers
Stung by Injury
by
Kev Posted 12/06/05
It was a disastrous night for Glasgow at
Newport as they not only went down by 7 points but worse also lost
Shane Parker with a broken collar bone early in the meeting.
As always, the track looked poor and was very dusty
right from the start. The meeting however started tamely enough with
Stancl winning the opening heat very comfortably although Wethers
came in at the back. It was followed by a heat advantage to Newport
in the reserves race with James Cockle in particular finding the rough
surface a little tricky. However Newport's Ezergailis also had problems,
lifting on the second bend of the last lap when Newport were on a
5-1, allowing Birkinshaw to come through into second.
A determined Claus Kristensen come out and won heat
3 comfortably and with Trent coming in third, the meeting was level.
Heat 4 was the main talking point of the night. Parker
and Robson were providing top drawer entertaining speedway, passing
and counter passing. Sadly though it was to end in grief as Shane
came off trying to get back past Robson and collected that broken
collar bone for his trouble. The referee awarded the race and although
surprisingly some seemed to disagree with the referees decision, Parker
was excluded.
With Glasgow now up against it, heat 5 did not start
particularly well with Matt Wethers having an engine failure before
the tapes even went up. George was showing he was in determined mood
and won again quite comfortably. With Parker out of the meeting, Glasgow
were left with their two reserves having to ride in heat 6 and they
did well to ensure a share of the spoils.
The most controversial decision of the night definitely
came in heat 7 and Glasgow were once more the victims. Claus was riding
well and although Robson was in front he was challenging all the way.
Claus had pulled level and was passing Robson when the Rye House man
got a puncture causing him to come off with no contact between the
two riders. Unbelievably referee Jim McGregor awarded the race to
Robson and excluded Claus - a costly decision for the Tigers once
again at the hands of Mr McGregor. Following the race, Stuart Robson
was withdrawn from the meeting with concussion.
Through the dust you could almost see Birkinshaw
and Wethers at the wrong end of a 5-1 from the tapes in heat 8 and
when Birkinshaw and Cockle suffered the same fate in heat 9 it looked
as if the meeting was running away from the Tigers.
Kristensen had ridden well and as expected Glasgow
brought him in as a TR in heat 10. Unfortunately, in what was possibly
his poorest race of the night he only got third place with Newport
collecting their third maximum heat score in a row thanks to the impressive
Lund and his experienced partner Collins.
Stancl was named as a TR in heat 11 and George and
his partner Matthew clawed the Tigers right back into the meeting
with an impressive 1-8.
The first running of heat 12 saw Cockle come off
and excluded from the re-run, which was won by Collins with Trent
managing second place. In a final attempt to lose the gap, Matthew
Wethers came in to heat 13 in place of Shane Parker as a GDTS. It
was a worthwhile attempt as Newport were going to have to use one
of their reserves in place of Robson. Matt chased down and passed
Ezergailis but was unable to make up the ground on Stancl and Korneliussen.
Claus Kristensen returned to his earlier good form
in heat 14, coming out and winning it but unfortunately the Newport
pairing of Collins and Atkin kept Birkinshaw at the back to ensure
the heat was shared and Newport were assured the win. Claus' reward
was a heat 15 ride along with George Stancl who had been unbeaten
and looked unbeatable all night. However, Korneliussen made heat 15
his, leaving Claus and George to team ride for a share of the spoils.
Overall it was probably an entertaining meeting for
a neutral but most Glasgow fans felt flat after Shane's heat 4 accident
and the probably consequences over the next few weeks. Had Shane been
riding, Tigers may even have sneaked a win but then Newport were left
without Robson as well.
The team rallied round and gave it their all to keep
the meeting close with George in particular looking impressive. Full
credit to them for ensuring that the bonus point is still well within
reach.
The scorecard and heat details can be found here.
Tiger Performance Points:
| George Stancl |
***** |
excellent display |
| Matthew Wethers |
** |
came good later on in the meeting |
| Trent Leverington |
** |
quiet but scored important points |
| Claus Kristensen |
**** |
a good performance, robbed in heat 7 |
| Shane Parker |
n/a |
injury a major blow for Glasgow |
| James Cockle |
** |
tried hard but struggled with the bumpy track |
| Jamie Birkinshaw |
*** |
did well bearing the brunt of the extra rides |
