Tigers Claim Bonus
Posted 05/05/06

It just wasn't to be Glasgow's night at Armadale as despite claiming the bonus points in a last heat decider, they lost out on the night and suffered a major blow with an injury to Kauko Nieminen that could keep him out for the rest of the PT meetings at least.

Things had looked hopeful for the Tigers after the opening couple of heats. Danny signaled his return to form with an excellent gate in the opening heat for a tapes to flag win after hold off a hard challenge from Theo Pijper on the final bends of the opening lap. Moller wobbled and reared coming out of the second bend of lap two giving David McAllan a glimmer of a chance to pass. He didn't make it that time but when Moller made another small error on the final bend of lap 3 David took full advantage to cut hard inside him to claim third spot.

Edinburgh have dominated the reserves races at home this season but when Sneddon slid off at the back on his own and was excluded from the re-run, things looked promising for the re-run. The Glasgow pairing gated but seemed to have problems getting in each others way. Sean Stoddart took full advantage of the clumsy riding to pass Cockle coming out of the second bend on lap 3 to split the Tigers pairing.

Heats 3 and 4 were from the gate, Nieminen making an error on the opening bends of heat 3 which left him with little hope of catching the strong Monarchs pairing despite all his efforts. Both Glasgow riders completely missed the gate in heat 4 whilst Cockle also fell and remounted on lap three before retiring before the finishing line with the Monarchs already well on their victory lap.

Danny Bird once again showed how to get out of the gate in heat 5 whilst partner McAllan did well to hold up Will Lawson until the second bend of lap two. Shane followed suit in another 'from the gate' heat in heat 6 but partner Ksiezak retired with bike problems on the second lap whilst well at the back.

Once again Glasgow were to suffer from team mates getting in each others road in heat 7. Dicken gated but when he tried to move out to block the opposition he only succeeded in baulking his partner, Harrison and Stoddart took full advantage and Edinburgh claimed their third 5-1 of the evening.

James Cockle looked to get out of the gate slightly ahead of Theo Pijper but it was the edinburgh man who came out of the second bend ahead. there was some close racing between Derek Sneddon and David McAllan at the back for third on the opening laps but David could not find a way through. James Cockle then wobbled on the third lap coming in to bend 2 allowing Sneddon to catch him up but he could not find a passing line either and Cockle held on in the race to the line to claim second.

Another two shared heats from the gate followed, Parker and Nieminen being the winners, before team manager took the brave decision to bring Parker in off 15m in heat 11. It was a gamble worth taking but on the first running Danny Bird overcooked his attempts to slow the Edinburgh pairing down on the opening bends and never fully recovered, ending up colliding with the fence on the third bend trying too hard to make amends. Shane was left in the rerun with the difficult task of beating a home rider off 15m on his own and did well to catch and pass Sean Stoddart at the end of the third lap.

James Cockle came in for Lee Dicken in heat 12. In the first running, Ksiezak was leading when Sneddon tried a kamikaze outside sweep on the third lap of bend 2 and went through the fence. The referee ordered a re-run with Sneddon excluded again. Wethers came out and won the re-run from the gate after having been well at the back in the first running.

Tigers recorded a 5-1 from the gate in heat 13 with Parker doing well to counter an aggressive start from Moller leaving Tigers only 4 points down going in to what was to be a controversial heat 14.

Lawson was first out of the gate and led coming into the opening bends of the second lap. All four riders were in contention at this stage. Lawson locked up on the bend but this did not appear to have any effect on any other rider. Ksiezak independently of this slid off on his own, but with Stoddart on his inside Kauko was unable to completely avoid him and actually hit his partners helmet a glancing blow which send Kauko into the fence. Despite only being on the second lap and all four riders still being in contention for the points, the referee astounded the whole stadium when he awarded the race as a 5-1 to the home side. Only the referee, Mr Rob Smith of Swindon, can know the reason for this especially as he had ordered a re-run in heat 12, a race which was further on and where the riders were far more spread out at the time of the stoppage. Although Kauko writhed about when he came down, it is fair to say that none of the Tigers fans realised at the time just how serious his injuries were.

Onto heat 15 and Tigers now needed a 5-1 for the bonus, Edinburgh already having won the meeting. Thankfully they won the toss as gate four was one to be avoided at all costs so were able to chose 1 and 3 with Danny on the inside. This time it was Theo Pijper who made an aggressive start but once again Shane Parker was up to the challenge and when Danny and Shane came out of the second bend ahead it was race over and boy did they enjoy it!

For the Tigers, Bird and Parker certainly rose to the challenge. David McAllan was unlucky, He rode better than his points tally suggests in his 3 riders, pouncing on a mistake to claim a point in one and holding up Lawson for over a lap in another. Kauko had not looked that comfortable but did still contribute 6 points Lee unfortunately struggled badly. Both reserves seemed to be a bit disappointing on the night, particularly James, but being generous they still scored 5 and 4+1 respectively which for reserves away from home would normally be regarded as a decent return.

The final score was of course disappointing, the one team who really benefited from last nights result being Sheffield who know look odds on to secure second place. However for Glasgow undoubtedly the biggest down side was the injury to Kauko Nieminen, probably the worst rider to loose - not that we would want to loose any to injury obviously. Everyone will be hoping that things are not as bad as originally thought and that Kauko is back where he belongs soon as he is a vital part of the Tigers set up.

Tiger Performance Points:-
(based on expectations)

R003