Tigers Remain Unbeaten in Trophy
(Posted 16/04/07)

On a hot and sunny afternoon, the fans were treated to an entertaining meeting although it was sadly marred by injuries to Redcar's Gary Havelock and Matt Tresarrieu.

Obviously we wish both riders a speedy recovery.

The meeting itself got off to a good start for the home side with George Stancl winning from the gate although he was made to work hard all the way as Havelock was never more than half a bike length off the pace.

Unusually David McAllan missed the gate in heat 2 and seemed to have problems with his bike on the opening bends leaving himself a lot of work to do from the back. He was eventually able to get passed Hodgson, who had done a decent job of blocking him on a few occasions, by cutting inside at the end of the third lap to claim third. Lee Dicken on the other hand had made the gate and won the heat comfortably.

Shane Parker won a shared heat 3 from the gate by a comfortable margin before there was the first little bit of drama in heat 4. McAllan once again missed the gate but passed inside Hodgson at the start of the second lap. There did not appear to be any contact, Hodgson slid off then remounted to carry on. The referee however decreed that David's move had affected the Redcar reserve and controversially excluded David, ordering the race to be re-run. Lone Tiger Trent Leverington made sure from the gate in the re-run although did give the fans a heart stopping moment going close to the fence on the final bend!

As you almost expect, the following heat featuring Havelock and Parker was a classic. Parker was ahead into the first bend but Havelock swept round the outside of him coming out of the second. An inside drive by Parker at the end of the opening lap saw him draw level but Havelock once again took advantage of the outside line coming out of bend two clear again. Shane tried the outside line at the end of lap two but to no avail, almost succeeded on the inside line bend two lap three, followed the inside line on Havelock's back wheel until the second bend of lap four where he switched to the outside line and squeezed through between Havelock and the fence on the back straight then held off an inside challenge from Havelock to the line. It was classic speedway between two racers. Almost unnoticed, Robert Ksiezak did well at the back to hold off Dan Giffard on a run in to the line.

Stancl gated in heat 6, Smethills coming round the outside of him on the opening bends into the lead with George settling in behind and protecting his team mate from the challenge of Matt Tresarrieu. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, his primary chain snapped coming out of bend two on the last lap whilst he was lying third, throwing him highside over his bike. He landed heavily on his shoulder and has since been confirmed as having a broken collar bone.

With James Grieves in as a tactical ride, the referee again caused more controversy in heat 7. Lee Dicken had fallen and remounted on the apex of the 3rd and 4th bends on the opening lap. Kerr slid off on the first bend of lap two just after Trent Leverington had passed inside him and the referee immediately put the stop lights on. Tigers fans feared another decision like that given in heat 4 against McAllan but this time the referee excluded Kerr, his decision being that he did not have time to clear the track safely.The re-run saw Grieves come out and win the heat comfortably for the Bears.

David McAllan and Lee Smethills recorded their third heat 8 '5-1' out of four home meetings from the gate with Parker and Ksiezak following suit in heat 9.

The Redcar pairing of Grieves and Kerr gated in heat 10 and although Stancl quickly passed Kerr coming out of the second bend, he could get no-where near an impressive Grieves. Havelock won heat 11 comfortably from the gate the only threat being from Lee Dicken on the opening lap before James Grieves and Shane Parker served up another good race in heat 12, Grieves coming out on top. Strangely David McAllan had once again missed the gate but passed Lee Smart at the end of the opening lap to go on and claim third.

Havelock was once again impressive in winning heat 13 from the gate and it was no surprise that redcar elected to bring him in as a Tactical Substitute for Hodgson in heat 14. Off the start, Kerr and Ksiezak tangled before the first bend, from our vantage point - which was not the best - it looked as if perhaps Kerr's footrest had hooked on Ksiezak's bike but whatever happened it sent the two riders and their bikes crashing into the fence. Havelock, from 15m back, was bearing down at speed, had no place to go and crashed heavily into the stricken riders bikes. Many have expressed concerns in the past about riders safety coming off 15m and having witnessed the heat 14 crash you can see why.

Sadly Havelock was unable to continue and we had the crazy situation where Hodgson came in as reserve replacement meaning that he was basically riding as a tactical substitute off 15m in place of himself. Ksiezak and Dicken gated in the re-run and were well clear when Kerr slid off coming out of the second bend of lap two, taking out some of the kick boards. The referee decided enough was enough and awarded the heat.

With the atmosphere somewhat subdued after Havelock's crash, Grieves, Parker and Stancl provided the perfect tonic by serving up one of the best heats of speedway seen at Ashfield in heat 15. Grieves got out of the gate first but Stancl beat him into the first bend and Shane came through on the inside of bend two to join him. Grieves took the wide line and passed outside Parker on bend four, coming inside Stancl on the backstraight next time round. All three were level coming out of the fourth bend before Grieves again pulled slightly ahead at the start of the third lap. Parker pulled level at the end of the lap, again Grieves pulled ahead, the two battles all the way round the final lap with Stancl not far behind. Shane passed on the inside of the final bend but Grieves was not finished and pulled back as they approached the line. It was a very close call, the referee came down in favour of Parker although it looked as if Grieves might have nicked it by the narrowest of margins from the other side of the track.

It was a fitting end to what had been an entertaining meeting, it was just a shame that two riders ended up injured because of machinery problems in the process. Redcar are most definitely an entertaining side and will cause a few problems for opposition this season. A special mention has to be given to James Grieves who was undoubtedly back to his best and looked very much like the Grievesy of old.

The Tigers again performed as a team with no failures. It was interesting to note that straight after the meeting Trent was out for a quick blast on his bike before the parade whilst Shane was out on Lee Smethills bike, giving it the once over.

Tigers have now put themselves in a strong position with regards to qualifying from the Northern Premier Trophy section although local rivals Edinburgh will no doubt have something to say about that on Friday.