Tigers
Win Tame Derby
Posted 13/03/05
First blood of the new Ashfield season went
to Glasgow today as the Tigers recorded a 6 point victory over great
rivals Edinburgh in the first leg of the Spring Trophy.
There were a lot of unknowns before going into this
meeting with many changes from last season and perhaps that contributed
to a quieter than usual atmosphere for a derby meeting. Although Danny
had obviously worked hard on the track since press and practice it
was still not ideal and looked a bit sticky on the 3rd/4th bend.
Glasgow signaled their intentions from the start
with a 5-1 in heat 1. Whilst Stancl led from gate to tapes, Matt Wethers
showed that he wanted to prove a point by coming from last to second
in this one picking off first Nermark on the first lap followed by
Pijper at the end of lap 2.
A 4-2 followed in heat 2 after Leverington managed
to pass Lawson on lap 2. Edinburgh's Ksiezak was lying third when
he fell and remounted on lap 3 allowing Gary Beaton through for third
place.
If anyone was beginning to get confident at this
stage, Glasgow were brought down to earth with a bump when Bentley
and Birkinshaw were comprehensively beaten in heat 3 and Shane then
missed the gate in heat 4. However, by the end of the first lap Shane
had come through to first.
A shared heat 5 looked uneventful until Bentley unusually
had bike trouble at the end of the third lap but still managed to
nurse his bike home ahead of Nermark. Yet another mishap was to hit
the Tigers in heat 6 when George Stancl came off whilst miles ahead
on the first bend of lap 3 leaving Edinburgh lying on a 4-2. However
the impressive Wethers had other ideas and executed an excellent pass
on Brady on the back straight of the final lap to share the points.
Edinburgh got level with a 5-1 in heat 7 thanks to
an uncharacteristic error from Shane when trying to challenge Woodward
for the lead only to lock up and allow Harrison through. This was
reversed in the next heat however with an easy win for Matt and Trent.
An engine failure for Brady whilst second in heat 9 followed by Birkinshaw
passing Lawson on the final lap saw Glasgow record another 5-1. Heat
10 was shared after Matt Wethers fell victim to the track with a wobble
on the final bend allowing Harrison through.
Following an uneventful shared heat 11, Glasgow suffered
a 1-5 reverse in heat 12 after Trent fell and Jamie Birkinshaw suffered
an engine failure starting the final lap. He showed his commitment
by pushing for home for almost the entire lap for the valuable point.
Parker and Stancl opened a gap up again with an easy 5-1 in heat 13
but Edinburgh took advantage of falling 8 points behind by bringing
in Harrison as a tactical substitute off 15 metres in heat 14. Harrison
managed to get past Leverington who later came off on the final bend
of lap 3 but Bentley did well to hold the Australian off to limit
the damage.
With the win assured, some of the controversy missing
so far from a derby match came into play for heat 15. Edinburgh seemed
to be sending out Pijper in green but after some discussion between
officials Pijper returned to his area of the pits and Lawson came
out instead. Stancl led from the gate followed by Parker and Woodward.
On the 3/4th bend of lap 2 Woodward fell victim to the track conditions
and locked up. Shane took the option to lay the bike down but referee
Mr McGregor saw it differently and excluded the Glasgow man from the
re-run despite Shane's visit to the referees box to plead his case.
Lone Tiger Stancl ensured the re-run was shared with a win from the
tapes and Glasgow were left with a slender 6 point lead to take to
Armadale next Friday.
Overall, performance wise the Tigers team did well
and the fans were wondering at the end how Edinburgh had been allowed
to get so close. Close season targets Harrison and Lawson certainly
scored well for them. The Glasgow scoring was solid and more or less
shared throughout the team although Cockle was missed. Matt Wethers
was undoubtedly the star of the meeting for Glasgow, even though he
didn't top score, with his determined riding. After a terrible first
race, Jamie Birkinshaw did relatively well and looks as though he
could master the Ashfield track sooner than expected.
It leaves Glasgow with a tough task on Friday at
Armadale especially as Bentley and Birkinshaw are known to dislike
the circuit. It is not however impossible.
The scorecard and heat details can be found here.
Tiger Performance Points:
| George Stancl |
*** |
Another solid performance |
| Matthew Wethers |
***** |
Excellent home debut |
| Jamie Birkinshaw |
*** |
Solid and committed after a poor start |
| Paul Bentley |
*** |
Started slowly then hit form |
| Shane Parker |
*** |
Unlucky |
| Gary Beaton |
* |
Still out of his depth |
| Trent Leverington |
** |
Perhaps trying too hard? |
