Tigers
Thrash Hull
Posted
30/05/05
Glasgow Tigers again produced an all round
team effort, this time against Knockout Cup holders Hull at Ashfield,
to record a 22 point victory and give the Tigers a realistic chance
of progressing to the next round.
The meeting started well for Glasgow for a change
with an opening heat 5-1 despite Hull's Sanchez being first out of
the gate. George shadowed Sanchez for most of the opening lap before
powering past on the fourth bend. It was left to Matthew to chase
and he got his reward passing Sanchez for the all important second
place. Heat 2 continues to be unlucky for Glasgow and especially for
James Cockle this week when his engine blew up on the start line.
Partner Jamie Birkinshaw did the business though with a comfortable
win from the gate. Glasgow's second 5-1 also came from the gate in
heat 3 courtesy of Trent and Claus.
Garry Stead gated well for the Vikings and used his
experience to take Shane wide on the second bend then power away for
a comfortable heat 4 win.
The first running of heat 5 saw Thorp break the tapes
and the Hull management surprisingly elect to have him go off 15m.
Sanchez jumped the start in the re-run but for some reason the referee
allowed it to go. Thorp gave chase and managed to pass Kristensen
on the second bend of lap two but then overcooked it coming into the
fourth bend trying to catch Trent and came down, leaving Kristensen
to come back through for 3rd.
Hull noticed just in time that both riders had gone
out in green helmet covers for heat 6, Parsons making the last minute
dash back to the pits to change. During the race itself, it was mostly
from the gate but Matthew did a complete 360° turn coming out
of the first bend and ended up on the centre green. George won to
ensure a share of the spoils. Branney gated for Hull in heat 7 and
held off Shane until the second bend of the second lap when Shane
came under him, the two were level going down the backstraight but
Shane had the better line, pulled clear on the third bend and won
by a good margin. At the back, James Cockle, on his big track bike,
had to ride a clever tactical race to hold off Emil Kramer for third.
Heat 8 was shared from the gate, this time Birkinshaw
riding a tactical race to block Parsons attempts to pass. There was
a little controversy in heat 9 when Trent was shown the fence by Stead.
Most expected Stead - who apparently was trying to blame it on Kristensen
not moving over for him! - to be excluded but the referee called it
as all four back. After a lengthy delay Trent came back out and refused
to be intimidated, riding a determined first bend and going on to
win for yet another shared heat. George won heat 10 from the gate
with Matthew just failing to catch the highly improved Branney on
the line. Another heat advantage followed in heat 11 courtesy of a
heat victory from Shane and another piece of good tactical riding
by Cockle to hold off Sanchez at the back. Heat 12 was also shared
after Trent once again won from the tapes.
Glasgow were now just trying to maximise their winning
advantage and heat 13's 5-1, after a good second bend by Stancl coming
through a tight gap, was emphatic with Sanchez and Stead well behind.
Heat 14 was shared.
Another strange refereeing decision in the first
running of heat 15 when Thorp appeared to clip his own rider going
into the bend and send him into the fence. Unbelievably the referee
called all four back and was left in no doubt of the crowds opinion
of that decision. It only served to fire up the Glasgow pairing however
as they coasted to yet another 5-1. For some reason at the end of
the race Thorp saw fit to remonstrate with Stancl and gesticulate
to the crowd, the latter action in particular letting himself down
badly - experience and maturity are obviously not related.
A comfortable win for Glasgow then and a chance of
an aggregate win over Hull after the second leg on Wednesday night
although it is far from certain. Hull were extremely disappointing
on the day. Parsons did okay bearing in mind he is not long back from
injury and although Stead started well he faded badly. Branney may
not have been the top scorer but on the day he was probably the best
Viking with some good riding. The rest were surprisingly very poor.
A team effort from Glasgow saw all riders play their
part. George got a paid maximum and Trent was very unlucky not to
record the same. Matt and Claus did what was needed and scored comfortably
whilst Shane was obviously very annoyed at his heat 4 defeat and made
sure no-one else got near him the rest of the evening. James Cockle
was up against it after losing his Ashfield engine but made the most
of it by showing track awareness and riding good tactical races to
minimise the damage. Jamie Birkinshaw's gating looks to have improved,
he made a couple of good gates this week and again was determined.
Pictures from home meetings can normally be found
on Ian Adams Website
or Lioness'
Webshots Site within a day or two of the meeting.
The scorecard and heat details can be found here.
Tiger Performance Points:
| George Stancl |
**** |
good paid max |
| Matthew Wethers |
*** |
scoring but still missing that extra spark |
| Trent Leverington |
***** |
top marks for Trent |
| Claus Kristensen |
*** |
another decent display overall |
| Shane Parker |
**** |
overall still flying |
| James Cockle |
*** |
showed good tactical awareness |
| Jamie Birkinshaw |
*** |
another determined showing, improved gating |
