Tigers Defeat Sorry Stoke
Posted 28th May

Tigers got their home league campaign off to a good start with a surprisingly easy home victory against Stoke and more importantly a good all round team performance.

The meeting opened with a good hard opening couple of bends in heat one between Danny Bird and Mark Lemon which the Glasgow man got the better of. Behind them, David McAllan did well to hold off Trent Leverington for the four laps.

As with the meeting last month, the Tigers reserve pairing bagged a maximum in heat 2 although Evans never gave up trying to catch the Glasgow youngsters.

Glasgow welcomed Kauko Nieminen back from injury today and he marked his return with a victory in heat 3, although he had to work hard for it after Robbie Kessler made the better gate. Kauko shadowed him for three laps before powering past Kessler crossing the line at the end of the third lap. Meantime Dicken and Clews were having their own battle at the back. Dicken passed up the inside of Clews on the third bend of the opening lap then blocked every attempt Clews made to get back through for the remaining three and a quarter laps.

Although James Cockle gated in heat 4, Alan Mogridge came out of the second bend in the lead, with Shane Parker at the back having missed the gate. Shane quickly fought back into second on the third bend before cutting inside Mogridge on the second lap third bend. Mogridge threatened briefly to return the compliment but Parker then pulled clear to win the heat comfortably. Not surprisingly, Stoke brought Mark Lemon out as a TR in heat 5 and he won comprehensively from the gate ahead of Nieminen and Dicken. Lee once more did well to hold off a challenge for third, this time from Trent Leverington.

Glasgow claimed a 5-1 from the gate in heat 6, helped by both Stoke riders rearing off the start.

Despite gating, Robert Ksiezak made an error by going far too wide on the second bend of the opening lap, relegating him to last with partner Shane Parker at the front. Robert fought back and finally swept round the outside of Clews at the end of lap 3. He continued to chase and almost threatened to catch Kessler, crossing the line only half a bike length behind.

David McAllan came a cropper in the first running of heat 8 when Trent Leverington accidentally clipped him into the fence as the two were having a good battle for second place with Cockle well ahead. In fairness to Trent, he did appear to have problems with his chain when the accident happened, his bike grinding to a halt as he pulled up on the back straight. David came out and won the re-run from the gate, James in second making it another 5-1 for the home side.

Alan Mogridge came out on a TR in heat 9 but spun round on the pits bend when it looked as if he may run into the back of Lee Dicken. The evasive action was costly for him as not only did that mean Stoke lost out on double points but Moggo himself took a heavy tumble as he tried to keep control of his bike, landing awkwardly on his back and shoulders. The re-run was from the gate and gave Lee Dicken his first and fully deserved heat win for the Tigers. Special mention has to be made however of Kauko Nieminen's part in sitting in behind his team mate and thwarting all Barrie Evans attempts to get past.

Heat 10 in recent weeks has tended to be a bit unlucky for David and it continued this week as he went just too wide on the final bend of the third lap trying to pass Robbie Kessler, ending up in a heap coming out of the fourth bend. The race was awarded with Danny Bird the winner.

Parker won heat 11 from the gate with Robert Ksiezak sweeping round the outside of Trent Leverington at the end of the second lap to claim second.

Stoke's Barrie Evans had looked impressive for a visiting reserve all meeting and was rewarded with a deserved from the gate heat win in heat 12. This time, Lee Dicken was unable to hold off Paul Clews at the back and Stoke recorded what was to be their only 'true' heat advantage of the meeting, the only other one being due to a TR.

Heat 13 was to be the slightly controversial one of the meeting. Shane Parker appeared to sleep at the gate and was left standing at the tapes when they went up. The referee called an unsatisfactory start and Glasgow were perhaps a little lucky. The second attempt saw Mark Lemon come off on the opening bend whilst indulging in some hard riding with Danny Bird. The referee called all four back, which seemed a fair call, but Lemon took issue with Bird firstly on the track and then again in the pits obviously feeling that the Englishman should have allowed him through for some reason. It was third time lucky, especially for Glasgow as they recorded a comfortable 5-1 with Mark Lemon interestingly electing to take the inside line on the early bends rather than tackle Danny Bird again.

Kauko Nieminen suffered an engine failure in heat 14 whilst lying third but Robert won the heat from the gate. It left Glasgow with the realistic opportunity of passing 60 points and Danny and Shane did not disappoint with a comfortable 5-1 from the gate in the final heat.

It was not in all honesty a particularly good meeting as it was too one sided and Stoke were a poor side today. However, on the positive side for Glasgow it was once again a good all round team effort with everyone playing their part. The possible high point was the whoops of joy from Lee Dicken as he celebrated his first win in a Tigers race jacket - it obviously meant an awful lot to him.

Tiger Performance Points:-
(based on expectations)

R003