Bonus Secured at Rye House
Posted 22/07/06, by Casper

There was a slight improvement in the Glasgow team at Hoddesdon and although they were still well beaten they did enough to hang on for what could be a vital bonus point - although only just.

On a rather dusty track, Kennett and Bird gated together in heat one but the home rider just managed to muscle Bird out on the opening bends and went on to win. David McAllan claimed third place quite comfortably after Ross Brady had fallen and remounted on the opening bends of the race.

After a re-run due to first bend bunching, Danny Betson won heat two from the gate, Cockle claiming second after winning the battle with former partner Adam Roynon coming out of the opening bends.

After a relatively easy 5-1 for the home side in heat 3 from the gate, Tigers luck looked to be starting to turn bad again when Shane's bike packed up on the way to tapes and he had to jump aboard Robert Ksiezak's at the last minute. Despite this Shane was able to make the gate and win from the tapes, passing looking unlikely on the Rye House track. With James Cockle slotting into third, Glasgow got their first heat advantage of the evening.

The first proper pass of the night came in heat 5 but unfortunately for Glasgow it was on danny Bird. Bird had gated and although Boxall was with him for the entire race it looked odds on that Danny would win the race. However Boxall went round the outside of Danny coming out of the second bend of the final lap and by the time they came out of bend four, the youngster was ahead. His passing may have been good but his wheelie's weren't after the race - he fell off!

Last week, Mildenhall had problems with their water bowser flooding the track, this week it was Rye House's turn as their bowser flooded the back straight but racing was only held up for a short time before Ross Brady shocked everyone by coming out and winning heat 6 from the gate with Shane in second. Robert Ksiezak looked poor but did manage to hold off Edward Kennett at the back for three laps before Kennett sailed past him on the soggy back straight.

Heat 7 was shared from the gate, Neath winning, then heat 8 gave Rye House an easy 5-1 from the gate when their pairing comfortably beat Glasgow's out of the traps.

Glasgow elected to bring Shane Parker in as a TR in heat 9. Shane made the gate but a tangle between Boxall and Ksiezak followed by handbags at 10 paces saw the race re-run for an unsatisfactory start. This time it was Allen who made the gate and despite Shane trying everything he could, there was just no passing line and he had to be content with second.

The predictable 'from the gate' scenario continued, Kennett and Brady beating Kauko and Lee in the gating contest in heat 10 to record a 5-1 before Neath beat Bird, who was on a TR, out of the trap in heat 11. Danny's second place double points meant the heat was shared with McAllan struggling at the back.

Boxall just got the better of Lee Dicken out of the gate in heat 12 but Lee rode a confident race to finish second. At the back, just when we thought passing would not be allowed, James Cockle got the better of Adam Roynon on the well watered back straight with Adam caught looking for him rather than riding his own race.

Neath once again won the gating contest in heat 13 from Danny Bird. Shane Parker had beat Eddie Kennett out of the traps and although Kennett was on his back wheel for most of the race there was again no passing line to be found. An attempt by Kennett to find one at the end of the third lap merely resulted in him coming off, the shared heat meaning that Rye House now needed two 5-1's in the last two races to force a run off for the bonus.

Once again, Kauko Nieminen made heat 14 his own, beating Allen out of the gate and the bonus point was secured. With heat 15 now a formality, Danny finally out gated Chris Neath with a superb gate off the outside with Shane gating behind Kennett in third and Neath surprisingly at the back. Again the lack of passing lines was evident as Neath looked for a way through. he made one attempt at it but drifted wide and it was all over.

After Somerset, there was an improvement in the Tigers riding and although the meeting was never attainable, they did enough to make sure that the bonus point headed north.

Tiger Performance Points:-
(based on expectations)

R003