Comfortable Win for Tigers
Posted 16/04/06

It was expected to be a very closely fought meeting between the Diamonds and The Tigers at Ashfield but Glasgow came out of the meeting with a comfortable home win and a chance of claiming the bonus point at tomorrow nights return encounter at Brough Park.

It did not start too well for Glasgow though when number 1 Danny Bird suffering engine failure on the start line of the first heat - he had been late coming to tapes, working frantically on his machine in the pits. Partner David McAllan gated and did well to hold off George Stancl until the end of the second lap.

Things got better immediately with a Tigers 5-1 in heat 2 with Cockle making a good gate and taking Sneddon wide on the second bend before powering away, allowing Ksiezak through into second. Nieminen then won heat 3 very convincingly from the gate with Dicken claiming 3rd, pulling away from Hauzinger on the third lap.

A comedy of errors followed for Glasgow in heat 4. Cockle had made the gate and held Grieves back until the third bend. However, Cockle and Parker appeared to get in each others road a couple of times over the next lap, particularly on the back straight when James' attempt to let his captain through actually saw him do the opposite and baulk him. Grieves won the heat very comfortably with Newcastle guest Sneddon at the back.

Stancl came out and won heat 5 from the gate by a considerable distance but at the back Lee Dicken worked very hard to prevent Christian Henry passing. Henry fell on the final bend whilst last. Again heat 6 was from the gate, this time it was McKinna however who held off McAllan at the back for third.

In heat 7 Robert Ksiezak was caught out for the second week running trying to anticipate the start, suffering a tapes exclusion. He was replaced by James Cockle who gated along with Shane Parker. Franc tried to go round the outside behind James Cockle and slid off. Clearly looking up and seeing the Glasgow riders on a 5-1, Franc elected not to clear the track and the race was eventually stopped and called to tapes for the third time, this time with Franc excluded. Once again the Glasgow pair gated and Parker shepherded Cockle round again in what looked a very slow heat to claim Glasgow's second 5-1 of the meeting.

Ksiezak came in for Cockle as a reserve switch in heat 8 and probably regretted it after coming off on the third bend of the third lap under pressure from Derek Sneddon. Sneddon went hard up the inside of Ksiezak but it was a fair move and Ksiezak was the one rightly excluded. The race was awarded with the win going to David McAllan who had made a superb gate and was well clear.

Heat 9 was also awarded after a crash on the second lap involving Lee Dicken and Adam McKinna. McKinna hit Dicken from behind towards the end of the back straight, knocking Lee's foot off the foot rest. He was therefore unable to turn in bend three, crashing heavily into a fence post on the third bend and sustaining what appeared to be rib injuries. He was able after lengthy treatment to walk back to the pits but the referee unbelievably awarded third to McKinna, excluding Dicken. Lee's injuries led to him being withdrawn from the remainder of the meeting and must make him doubtful for tomorrow night.

In contrast, heat 10 was a tame affair, a split heat from the gate won by Danny Bird.

Once again, Stancl was quick out of the gate in heat 11 but was pursued by Shane Parker who powered past his former team mates with a drive round the outside of bend four on the opening lap and went on to win by a very large margin, cheekily pulling a wheelie coming out of the final bend to cross the line. Meantime Cockle and Henry were doing battle at the back. Cockle had been first out of the gate and worked hard to hold off Henry in the opening laps. However, Henry's experience showed and he slipped past James at the end of the second lap.

Ksiezak replaced the injured Dicken in heat 12 but it was his partner James Cockle who won the race, leading from start to finish despite a very hard opening couple of bends with Adam McKinna. McKinna slipped to the back early on and slid off at the end of the second lap, remounting only to loose control and crash heavily into the fence coming out of the second bend of the final lap.

The heat 13 battle between these two clubs has been anticipated every since the teams were announced but it was to last less than two bends. James Grieves seemed to run out of track going wide and collided with the fence coming into the second bend. The race was eventually stopped and re-run with three riders. George Stancl was to be no match for his Glasgow counter parts however, Shane being well clear by the second bend and Stancl only able to challenge Bird for the first two laps before falling back off the pace.

With the bonus points still up for grabs, Newcastle unsurprisingly brought Franc out as a TR in what was to be an eventful heat 14. From the gate, Franc moved out extremely wide, causing his partner Derek Sneddon problems and completely blocking James Cockle. Kauko Nieminen took full advantage to cut back on the inside line and into the lead although Cockle was left almost at a standstill at the back and far off the pace. Franc challenged Nieminen on the final bend of the opening lap but the Fin superbly blocked him and pulled away, going on to record a comfortable win. Cockle at the back was definitely angered by what had happened on the opening bends, presumably at himself for being caught out as the move itself was perfectly legitimate,and did look as if he was going to give up, he was so far back. Thankfully he kept going and was able to take full advantage when Franc suffered an engine failure coming into the final bend, firstly being passed by Sneddon then James managing to get past the stricken Czech before the line.

As expected, heat 15 was a repeat of heat 13 and this time we were to get all four laps with all four riders although the outcome was the same. Grieves reared badly at the start and was never in contention, Bird and Parker were well clear and Stancl was unable to match them.

Overall, a very satisfying team performance from Glasgow's point of view although the Diamonds were a little disappointing. Glasgow must surely have a very good chance of claiming the bonus point in the return leg at Brough Park tomorrow night.

On a slightly different note, I try not to comment on the performance of the referees as they do have a very difficult job and mistakes can, and will, be made.

Today though there were a few incidents that seemed to compromise rider safety, something that is very worrying.

When Franc fell in heat 7 there is no doubt he chose to stay down. However, the referee did not put on the red stop lights until the leading rider was coming into the first bend with Franc still on the outside of the track at the start of the second bend. Alarmingly the same thing happened again when Grieves went down in heat 13 and only some very frantic last second waving from track staff managed to alert Bird to the danger as he came round at speed to where Grieves lay.

The referee missed the contact between McKinna and Dicken in heat 9 and appeared to miss the track staff still carrying out repairs on the third bend when the klaxon was sounded for 2 minutes. More frighteningly, the riders were called to tapes and under starters orders for heat 13 before it was noticed that the track staff were still repairing damage done by Adam McKinna's crash to the fence coming out of the second bend in heat 12. A very bad day at the office for Mr Durno.

Tiger Performance Points:-
(based on expectations)

R003