Embarrassing Defeat at Lynn
Posted 10/08/06, by MS

It may have been a much anticipated meeting - league favourites versus current league leaders - but this was one to forget with Glasgow embarrassingly on the wrong end of a hefty 62-28 defeat. Sadly the score did not flatter to deceive. After the performance on the Island the night before, it was almost hard to believe this was the same team as the Tigers looked for the most part out of their depth.

Troy Batchelor was once more a thorn in the Tigers side as he came out and won the opening heat from the gate with Danny second. It was pretty uneventful but then came the comedy of errors in heat 2. To be honest we are still not exactly sure of what happened other than the King's Lynn pairing were 1st and 2nd the entire race. Firstly James had problems at the start and it looked as if he would pull up a few yards from the line when his bike appeared to splurt into action. Engine problems seemed to befall Robert at the start of lap 2 allowing James through to third. Lap three saw James come off on his own and remount, still ahead of Robert but James' bike then looked to slow again, Robert catching him on the first bend of the final lap, the two coming together as they both went for the same line. This time it was Robert who fell leaving James to limp home. Mills and Oliver could feel aggrieved as its unlikely anyone would be watching them out front, instead concentrating on the slapstick happening behind.

Heat 3 was another home 5-1 from the gate, the only challenge being from Lee Dicken towards the end after Nermark wobbled, before Topinka beat Parker from the gate in heat 4. James Cockle did hold third place for the first lap but lifted coming out of the second bend on lap two and John Oliver took full advantage to claim third.

Already 12 points down, Glasgow tried to stem the tide by bringing out Danny Bird as a TR in heat 5 but it was to fail miserably. Nermark gated, then at the start of the third lap Harding cut inside Danny to give King's Lynn their third 5-1 of the meeting.

There was a brief glimmer of hope in heat 6 when Shane Parker won the tough opening bend battle with Troy Batchelor to win although Ksiezak still looked to be struggling a little with the track at the rear.

It was followed by two heat advantages for King's Lynn, again from the gate, in heats 7 and 8. In heat 7 Mills and Dicken were both fallers on the second bend but Mills was able to remount to claim third.

Glasgow called in Shane as the second TR of the night in heat 9. Once again it was not to work for the Tigers as Shane had what looked to be a very expensive engine failure whilst holding down second place. the positive from this heat however was the riding of Robert Ksiezak, who looked to have made some changes and was competitive, doing very well to hold off a determined Harding to claim the important second place.

There was to be no passing in heat 10 but the heat was awarded after Kauko, lying in second, came off whilst in second place on the final lap. Both Doolan and Dicken did well to take evasive action but Kauko looked to have yet again aggravated his troublesome wrist injury.

Cockle came in for McAllan in heat 11 but came in at the rear after Mills got the better of him on the opening bends. Up front Topinka beat Bird out of the gate.

Robert Ksiezak rode another good race in heat 12 once again holding off Harding for the entire race including a final drive to the line to claim second spot behind John Oliver. Robert was to feature again in heat 13 thanks to more mechanical misfortune for Shane Parker when his clutch cable went at the start causing him to plow through the tapes. Robert came in as his replacement but was only able to beat his team mate in the re-run, King's Lynn claiming 5-1 number 5.

There was disbelief at the start of heat 14 when Kauko and James outgated their King's Lynn counterparts and were on a 5-1 for the opening lap. At the start of the second lap however, Nermark squeezed past Kauko Nieminen and one lap later repeated the manuovre on James Cockle to claim first place. Cockle fell almost immediately after he had been passed and what had looked like a Tigers 5-1 became a King's Lynn advantage.

Heat 15 was a formality and perhaps that worked in Tigers favour but finally Glasgow were able to record a token heat advantage courtesy of a from the tapes win by Shane Parker and a well worked third place for Robert Ksiezak who past Nermark in the early stages.

From one of the better meetings of the season the previous night, this meeting at King's Lynn was undoubtedly the poorest. The Tigers were often embarrassing they were that uncompetitive and that contributed to what was a very boring meeting as well as being a depressing one for the few visiting fans.

This is one meeting that should be consigned to the Tigers room 101 as soon as possible. Its now time to move on and look forward to Sunday against Mildenhall as any Glasgow fan at the Norfolk Arena will certainly not want to look back.

Tiger Performance Points:-
(based on expectations)

R003