Tigers Win Workington Challenge
(Posted 01/04/07)

It went down to the last race of the afternoon, but the Tigers managed to hold on to claim the aggregate victory over a Workington side for whom former Tiger Kauko Nieminen was outstanding.

With both sides using r/r – Tigers for Ksiezak and Comets for Wright – the meeting was slow in starting with no fewer than seven different bikes featuring in the run up to the opening heat and the re-run after an unsatisfactory start, with Stancl and Branney being the riders facing the mechanical gremlins. The referee showing sensible discretion when Craig Branney was only slightly over the two minute allowance due to bike problems, allowing all four riders to come to tapes. The race in itself was a bit of an anti climax with the Glasgow pairing of Stancl and Smethills winning from the gate.

More machinery problems followed at the start of heat two when young Charles Wrights clutch went just prior to coming under starters orders. He was able to switch bikes and claim a second place behind the very quick gating David McAllan who won by a considerable margin. At the back, Lee Dicken was passed on the outside on the third bend of the opening lap by Jamie Robertson and was unable to respond meaning the heat was shared.

Once again David McAllan was very quick out of the gate in heat 3 and was followed home by Shane Parker for the Tigers second 5-1 of the afternoon. It was followed by Workington’s first race win of the afternoon when Kauko Nieminen won comfortably from the gate in heat 4. With most people marking their racecard as a shared heat there was however a twist as Trent Leverington went too wide on the final bend, clipped the fence and came off whilst comfortably in second.

It looked as if Glasgow were heading for another 5-1 in heat five when Shane Parker gated and David McAllan rounded Kenneth Hansen coming out of the second bend. However Hansen had other ideas and put pressure on both Glasgow riders, coming under David on the final bend of what was a very good race to claim second place and very nearly catching Shane into the bargain.

In contrast, heat 6 was effectively over after a hard first two bends which saw Stancl get the better of Nieminen with Smethills claiming an easy third place. Trent Leverington led heat 7 until Kenneth Hansen showed how quickly he was learning the Ashfield circuit with an inside pass on the third bend although with is partner off the pace at the back both teams had to settle for a shared heat. However another easy 5-1 from the gate followed for the Tigers in heat 8 courtesy of Lee Smethills and David McAllan.

Heat 9 was shaping up to be a very entertaining heat with two separate battles. Nieminen gated but was passed on the outside by Shane Parker on the opening bends but Kauko was right on Shane’s shoulder. Meantime, Leverington and Charles Wright were having there own battle with Trent outgating Wright but Wright going round his outside in bend two. Trent immediately came back underneath Wright on the third bend with Wright then going round his outside on the fourth. It was promising to be four laps of classic speedway when unfortunately Wright slid off on the first bend of lap two and Trent did very well to lay his bike down quickly. The re-run saw Kauko again outgate Shane who repeated his earlier move sweeping round Nieminens outside, this time pulling clear for a comfortable win.

George Stancl came out on top of a hard opening couple of bends in heat 10 and Hansen then managed to pass on the outside of Lee Smethills at the opening lap, the remainder of the race being spread out.

It was no surprise that Workington elected to bring Kauko out as a TR in heat 11 and even less surprising was his win from the gate. There was however a very good race at the back between Lee Dicken and Mattia Carpanese for third place. The two were side by side for most of the race and the Italien actually looked slightly quicker but Lee rode a tactical race to hold him off although only just.

Workington’s Hansen made the gate in heat 12 but in a pincer movement Shane Parker came underneath him on the second bend whilst Lee went round the outside and into a 5-1 position. As with heat 5 however, Hansen was not one to give up and again he got his reward with a drive round the outside of Lee on the final bend enough to see him claim second spot.

Stancl won heat 13 from the gate after another hard opening bend with Kauko Nieminen before Lee Smethills was awarded the win in heat 14. He was well clear when on the third lap David McAllan misjudged an inside pass on Branny on the third bend, catching the inside edge of the track and coming down heavily.

Tigers now only needed to avoid the 1-5 in the final heat to claim the aggregate victory. Stancl gated but was passed round the outside by Nieminen to rob him of a maximum whilst Parker was passed inside by the quick learning Hansen allowing the Comets to finish with a heat advantage.

Overall on a sunny Sunday afternoon it was a decent early season meeting that both sides will take positives from. Workington certainly seem to have uncovered a good one in Kenneth Hansen and young Charles Wright also impressed and was worth more than his points total suggests. When they have James Wright back at number one they are capable of surprising a few teams. For the Tigers, Lee Smethills will be glad to have got through a meeting without bike problems and is adapting well to the track. Trent and Lee Dicken did have a few problems this afternoon but both still scored important points whilst David and George both continue their good starts to the season. Captain Shane again put in the type of performance we have become used to although will be disappointed with heat 15.