Premier League Home Record in Tact
Posted 04/09/06

It wasn’t pretty – the intermittent and sometimes heavy rain made sure of that – but the Tigers pulled together after a poor start to ensure they remained unbeaten at home in the Premier League for 2006 by beating Edinburgh by 49-44.

It was straight into the racing with no parade due to the weather, the track looking quite heavy. Robert Ksiezak came in as rider replacement in the opening heat and won from the tapes. Although partner David McAllan had gated immediately behind his team mate, Theo Pijper past inside him on the opening bends. Glasgow had looked set for a heat advantage when McAllan’s bike made an ominous popping sound coming out of the second bend of lap 3 resulting in him pulling up on the third bend to gift the visitors a share of the points.

Again the Glasgow pair gated in heat 2 only for Sean Stoddart to pass inside James Cockle on the opening bends. A well spread out heat again looked as if it would give Glasgow a heat advantage until James Cockle fell coming into bend two of the final lap allowing Derek Sneddon, who had been well of the pace at the rear, to come through in to third. Things got even worse when in heat three Kauko and Lee both reared up off the start and were well beaten by Matt Wethers and Henrik Moller from the gate. Lee Dicken fell at the back at the start of the second lap but was sportingly quick to clear the track earning him praise from the referee.

The rain was falling intermittently and the track was now looking very greasy on top with riders struggling. It was highlighted by the heat 4 result, a fast gating Derek Sneddon winning the heat for the visitors from James Cockle with Shane Parker third courtesy of a well timed inside pass of William Lawson on the third bend of lap two. The riders spent most of the heat well spread out just trying to stay on their bikes and a winning time nearly three seconds slower than the previous slowest heat highlighted that the riders were finding it very difficult.

Edinburgh were adapting to the conditions far better than the Tigers and heat 5 saw Pijper and Tessari open up a significant lead from the gate by the time the race was awarded after Lee Dicken came down at the start of the second lap and was unable to clear his bike from the track. In fact the red lights were late and the riders appeared to be having difficulty in seeing them when they did come on and Lee had to make a run for it onto the centre green as the riders came back round leaving his bike on track. The race was awarded and it was no great surprise when Glasgow asked the referee down to inspect the track.

After a short discussion between the referee, both team captains and a promoter from each side the referee allowed 10 minutes for the Glasgow track staff to scrape off the top surface – something requested by both captains – to make the track more acceptable.

After hard work from Danny and Trent, racing got underway again with Shane Parker coming out as a tactical substitute in heat 6 in place of David McAllan, Robert Ksiezak coming in as reserve replacement for the rider replacement ride. Robert gated in the first running but Sean Stoddart came a cropper on his own on the opening bend, Shane Parker doing very well to lay his bike down although hurting himself in the process. The re-run saw Robert make the all important gate again and he held off Will Lawson sufficiently for Shane to catch up quickly. On the third lap Robert eased Lawson out enough to allow Shane to come through the small gap created as they came into the third bend and the two then team rode for the remaining lap to give Glasgow the 8-1 that they badly needed. It was followed by a 5-1 in heat 7, this time courtesy of Parker and Cockle after Henrik Moller had been excluded coming down at the back on the opening bends. In both runnings, Shane and James had hit the front from the gate.

Ksiezak and McAllan gated in heat 8 but David’s bike problems continued to plague him, causing him to fall off whilst in second on the third bend with both Edinburgh riders doing well to avoid him. Robert was already well clear by this time and won the heat comfortably.

The drizzle was starting to cause problems again and as a result the next couple of heats were more or less from the gate. Will Lawson won the well spread out heat 9 before Shane came out and recorded another win in heat 10, Moller falling and remounting at the end of lap 3 whilst in second.

Heat 11 provided two races in one, Parker came out on top of the battle with Theo Pijper at the front after passing inside him at the start of the third lap. Meantime Tessari pulled off a superb outside pass on Ksiezak at almost the same instant whilst they were at the end of the second lap having lined the move up from the backstraight.

Lee Dicken was again beaten by the conditions in heat 12 falling on the third bend of lap three whilst in third after a decent tussle with Derek Sneddon. Sneddon was unable to avoid Lee and came down too but thankfully both riders were able to walk back to the pits after treatment. Unfortunately the referee was unable to award the race as both riders had come down and a re-run was declared. Cockle had been leading the race and looked certain to claim victory but in the re run was well beaten from the gate by the Edinburgh pairing and what could have been a heat advantage to the Tigers became a 1-5.

With Glasgow now only 1 point up and the rain again coming into play it was getting very tense. Shane came out and won a processional heat 13 from the gate in driving rain but Robert was at the back. After a short delay to allow the worst of the rain to pass, Derek Sneddon won another shared heat from the gate. Ksiezak did try to pass at the end of the opening lap but shut off presumably due to poor visibility.

It was all down to heat 15. A lot of the pressure was taken off the Glasgow pairing when Derek Sneddon failed to make the two minute time allowance and Edinburgh elected to put him off 15m rather than replace him. Shane flew from the gate and won by a country mile whilst Kauko finished the home league campaign off in good style by claiming second place.

It will certainly not be remembered as a classic meeting and all 13 riders should be praised for coping with the conditions. Glasgow have had to put up with the comments that they are a ‘two man team’ all season but I doubt if any of those leveling the accusations meant Shane and Robert both of whom where outstanding. James was unlucky not to have a few more points added to his total and whilst Kauko struggled with the conditions he pulled a good ride out of the bag when it mattered. It was a bad day for Lee and David but both were there encouraging their team mates.

Edinburgh made it hard for Glasgow as was expected but on the day the Tigers grit and determination saw them through. Whatever happens now, credit has to be given to the team and management for achieving the aim of going through the Premier League fixtures unbeaten at home.