Tigers Secure Bonus on Poor Track
Posted 17/04/06

Tigers took a healthy 18 point lead into the second leg of the Premier Trophy meeting between Glasgow and Newcastle and it proved to be just enough to take the bonus point, despite losing the meeting by 11 points.

Riders from both clubs seemed to get caught out during the meeting by the poor state of the track which caused a few falls on the night.

Stancl showed his intentions right from the start with a win from the gate in the fastest time of the season to open the meeting. David McAllan rode a clever race in third to prevent Henry passing and ensure a shared heat.

The track claimed its first faller in heat 2 when Ksiezak came off on the second lap whilst in second behind his team mate. Sneddon made the gate in the re-run and it was left to Cockle to battle to hold off Adam McKinna to claim second place.

An uneventful heat 3 from the gate was to be followed by controversy in heat 4 when Cockle came down on the first bend in what looked like first bend bunching. The referee did not call it and with Newcastle on a 5-1 the youngster followed Pepe Franc's lead of the previous day by not clearing the track in time. Unlike Franc, however, James was heavily fined by the referee to add insult to injury. The drama still wasn't quite over in this heat as in the re run James Grieves shed a chain on third lap whilst leading, allowing Shane Parker to claim the victory.

Heat 5 was to take an age to run, needing two re-runs after firstly Hauzinger broke the tapes and then his replacement Sneddon and team mate Franc came down in first bend bunching, damaging the fence. After lengthy repairs, the heat itself was an anti-climax with Franc winning by a considerable distance followed home by team mate Sneddon who comfortably held of challenges from McAllan and Bird. This was followed by another home 5-1 from the gate in heat 6 to set the alarm bells ringing for the Tigers fans in the crowd.

Kauko Nieminen was brought out as a TR in heat 7. Kauko and rider replacement James Cockle both made the gate and the Fin pulled away as Cockle managed to hold Grieves up for the first lap, and although Grieves gave chase he was just unable to catch Nieminen. Newcastle got a heat advantage from the gate in heat 8, leaving Glasgow 8 points down and team manager Alan Dick took advantage of this to replace Robert Ksiezak in heat 9 with Danny Bird as a TS despite Bird looking poor so far. The gamble did not pay off however and Danny failed to score although partner Shane did manage to split the Diamonds pairing.

The track claimed another victim in heat 10, when Christian Henry fell on the third lap whilst lying second behind team mate George Stancl turning a Newcastle 5-1 into a shared heat.

Danny Bird found his gating touch in heat 11, coming out in front and held off a hard but fair challenge from James Grieves at the start of the second lap. Although he remounted, Adam McKinna was to be yet another faller on the poor track in this heat. The next faller was to be David McAllan on the second lap of heat 12. David couldn't clear the track but the race was awarded as a 5-1 to Newcastle with Sneddon and Hauzinger well ahead of James Cockle.

As anticipated, Shane Parker came out in the black and white TR helmet for heat 13 but it was to be Newcastle's James Grieves who was to storm into what looked to be an unassailable lead until the poor track conditions claimed him as yet another victim on the final lap, resulting in Shane taking the win and 6 points to secure the bonus point for the Tigers.

Technically Glasgow could still have wont the meeting at this stage but the impressive Franc put paid to all thoughts of that when he won heat 14 easily from the gate securing the meeting for the Diamonds.

Despite there being nothing left to race for, heat 15 provided possibly the most exciting racing of the meeting between Stancl and Parker. The riders changed position a few times during the race for second place, passing and re-passing, with Shane just holding on to claim second in the charge for the line. Franc won the heat comfortable whilst Kauko became the final victim of the track when he slid off at the back.

It was a difficult night for both sides on a very poor track. In many ways Glasgow had slightly the better luck in this area as it allowed them to claim vital points and crucial times, most notably Shane's TR. There is no doubt that for a while Glasgow's 18 point lead did not look as comfortable as many had thought it was at 6pm on Sunday evening.

Tiger Performance Points:-
(based on expectations)

R003