Star Performance Beats the Comets
Posted 16/07/06, by JP

Despite missing Kauko, the rider recognised by most to be Glasgow's Derwent Park expert, the Tigers pulled of an excellent if somewhat of a surprise victory against Workington last night.

Sadly, it is a meeting that has resulted in more talk of off-track incidents than on-track with but whilst we are certainly not condoning any of the bad behaviour that took place from either set of supporters we do not intend to dwell on it either, instead focusing on the speedway.

On a very hot summers night, Tigers got off to an excellent start with Danny Bird leading all the way from the gate. David McAllan did well on the opening bends to win the tussle with Paul Thorp for third place. Things continued to look good when in heat two Robert Ksiezak and James Cockle hit the front but James was unable to hold off Aiden Collins who sailed passed him on the back straight. John Branney worked hard to challenge Cockle for third but was unable to get through, finally overcooking it and sliding off on the final bend giving it one last desperate attempt.

Danny Bird came in as rider replacement in heat 3 and duly collected his second first place of the night although it wasn't a straightforward win for the gates. Ritchie Hawkins gated ahead of him, Danny settled in behind him and tracked him for the four laps in the way Shane often does at Ashfield before executing a perfect pass on the final bend. Another slap in the face to those who claim Danny is merely 'a gater'!

Garry Stead gated in heat 4 but was put under pressure from Shane and surprisingly for a rider of his experience the pressure got to him, Stead coming off on the third lap allowing James Cockle through into second place and the Tigers to claim their first 5-1 of the meeting.

Sadly the controversy was about to start with heat 5. The first running was called back as an unsatisfactory start after Danny looked as if he had made a superb gate. It obviously had an effect on Danny as he completely missed the gate in the re-run and was faced with coming from the back. Hawkins appeared to hit a rut coming out of bend two sending him across Danny's path and causing Danny to shut off slightly but Danny stuck with it and saw his opportunity at the start of the second lap, going for a gap on the inside. Hawkins however had stayed in relatively tight and the gap was not enough for Danny to get through. It looked from our position as if Danny did clip Ritchie, some disagree with that, but we certainly did not see it as anything other than a racing accident. Unfortunately the clip was enough to knock Ritchie off and his team mate Tomasz Piszcz was unable to avoid clattering into him. Ritchie received lengthy treatment on track before being transferred to an ambulance and off to hospital and we wish him well for a speedy recovery.

The re-run was all over by the first bend, Piszcz and replacement Aiden Collins gating and claiming a comfortable 5-1.

After a shared heat 6, won by the impressive Shane Parker, Comets recorded another 5-1 courtesy of Stead and Collins with the latter passing both Tigers in the early stages. However Ksiezak - in for Cockle - and McAllan hit back right away in heat 8 getting a Tigers 5-1 from the gate.

The referee seemed to be suspicious of any quick gating and when Robert Ksiezak shot out of the gate in heat 9 it became another heat called back for an unsatisfactory start. He couldn't repeat the gate in the re-run, Tomasz Piszcz doing so instead closely followed by Shane Parker. Shane chose to pass him on the fourth bend of the first lap on the outside.

Workington were still very much in the meeting despite having been behind all the way and much was made of their impressive 5-1 from the gate in heat 10 in what was announced as the fastest time of the season. It was only to last a matter of minutes however as Danny Bird came out and went a tenth of a second faster from the gate in heat 11 although the track announcer did actually 'forget' to announce the fact when giving the time.

Heat 12 was shared but it was encouraging the way Lee Dicken challenged Aiden Collins at the front.

Both Danny and Shane had been riding superbly and it was no great surprise when they came out in heat 13 and won from the gate, despite a concerted effort by Garry Stead, giving Glasgow a healthy 6 point lead going into the final two heats. Without Kauko, Tigers were always going to be weak in heat 14 however and this was probably compounded by one of the riders being a tired Robert Ksiezak on his 7th ride of the night. Once more a sharp gate from Robert was called back as unsatisfactory by the referee and although he was first out of the gate in the re-run Tomasz Piszcz was on his shoulder and passed him on the back straight first time round. Robert was then put under pressure by Aiden Collins and although he held him off for a while Collins was able to get the better of him at the end of the third lap giving Comets a 5-1 and setting up a tense last heat decider.

Once again there was an unsatisfactory start before heat 15 got underway in earnest. Although Danny was at the back, Shane came out of the opening bends in front and there was no way he was going to be caught barring engine failure and Tigers got the 3-3 required to secure the points.

Overall it was a very pleasing performance from the team with all 6 riders playing their part. Most had written off Glasgow when Kauko was denied permission to ride but everyone rallied round and the team thoroughly deserved the victory.

Tiger Performance Points:-
(based on expectations)

R003