Nightmare
at Oak Tree Arena
By Casper, Posted 14/05/05
The form book was thrown out the window last
night as Somerset easily made it a real Friday the 13th experience
for a poor Glasgow side.
The track was probably suited more
to gating than passing, being dry and dusty, on a cold windy night.
Somerset had Jamie Smith back from
injury and he made his mark right from the start with a surprise heat
1 victory over Stancl with Zetterstrom 3rd. In form reserve Jason
King then got the better of Glasgow's in form reserve Trent from the
tapes in heat 2 for a second heat advantage to the Rebels. The trend
continued in heat 3, this time the Tiger splitting the Rebels was
the fast gating Klaus Kristensen.
Heat four was to prove disastrous for
Glasgow. Shane was surprisingly off the pace but with Trent lying
second it looked as if there would be yet another 4-2. However, both
Glasgow riders suffered broken chains almost simultaneously, Trent's
causing him to collide with the fence. The referee stopped and awarded
the race 5-0 adjudging Shane not to be under power at the time of
the stoppage.
Unsurprisingly Glasgow put George out
as a TR in heat 5, a move that was to pay off as George won from the
tapes. Unfortunately however Matthew trailed in last but it still
pulled the score back a little.
This seemed to spur on Somerset however
and they were to record two consecutive 5-1 scores with Jamie Smith
again looking impressive as the Zetterstrom-Smith partnership beat
Parker and Cockle.
Birthday boy Trent was in determined
mood and led Matt home to a 5-1 for the tigers in heat 8 although
they were helped by Smith sliding off.
Shane was put out as a TR in heat nine
and the reserves switched round. Trent and Shane were able to see
off Fry and Hawkins and record the maximum 8-1 advantage, giving the
Tigers brief hope of a comeback, especially given Somerset's recent
scoring trend. As with the last TR however, it merely seemed to spur
on the home side and yet again Somerset recorded two successive 5-1
wins on the trot.
The inside gates were now proving to
be by far the best and this was to Hawkins advantage as he won heat
12 from the inside. However a good ride from Leverington, in as reserve
replacement for Birkinshaw, from gate four combined with a determined
ride from Cockle got Glasgow a share of the points for this one.
With George and Shane having the inside
gates in heat 13, they looked more like the pairing we have seen recently
as they powered to a 5-1. It was all about damage limitation now however
and with Trent once again of the poor gate four Glasgow were to lose
another 5-1 in heat 14.
Heat 15 was over as soon as the toss
was made. Somerset chose 1 and 3 and recorded their sixth 5-1 of the
evening.
Glasgow were well beaten by a team
who were far more up for it on the night and to loose six 5-1's and
a 5-0 to a team who have so far struggled this season and looked weak
is frightening from Glasgow's point of view.
With the exception of Trent and to
a lesser extent George the Glasgow riders were disappointing at best
in a meeting they should realistically have been able to push the
opposition all the way. Racing was not up to usual Oak Tree Arena
standard but much of that could have been down to the poor performance
of the Tigers.
Tigers Performance Points;
| George Stancl |
*** |
Not Bad |
| Matthew Wethers |
** |
A poor return |
| Jamie Birkinshaw |
* |
Out of touch |
| Claus Kristensen |
** |
Did ok considering but will need to improve |
| Shane Parker |
** |
Erratic-poor by Shane's high standards |
| James Cockle |
** |
First time at the track, struggled to adapt |
| Trent Leverington |
**** |
Easily the best Tiger, good performance |
.
