McAllan Injured as Tigers Lose
(Posted 21/04/07)

It wasn't to be Tigers night as they lost their unbeaten record at Armadale last night and possibly reserve David McAllan for this weeks home tie against Berwick on Sunday.

The opening heat saw Stancl gate but any hopes the traveling support had of a heat win were quickly thwarted when Ronnie Correy showed that there is now an inside line at Armadale, cutting cleverly inside George coming out of the second bend and pulling clear to go on and win.

After a good start, Lee Dicken was taken very wide on the second bend by Sneddon and slipped back into last place. The riders in this one seemed to have a problem with the surface with quote a few wobbles and both McAllan and Tully coming down. McAllan retired on lap two and the referee had to award the race when Tully slid off at the end of the third lap

Heat 3 saw a comfortable win for Shane Parker with Lawson claiming third place at the end of the opening lap passing a rather tentative looking Robert Ksiezak.

Tully missed the 2 minutes for heat 4 and was replaced by Sneddon who along with partner Wethers made the gate for the home side. David McAllan refused to give up however and was hot on Sneddon's exhaust pipe, lining up a well executed pass on the inside of the opening bend of lap 3. Sneddon got himself into a bit of trouble trying to change lines going into bend two and Leverington was able to take full advantage and sneak through into third.

Stancl once again fell victim to an inside pass on the second bend after having gated in heat 5 but this time was able to prevent Lawson pulling away and returned the favour a lap later, then going onto claim the win.

The home pairing claimed an easy 5-1 in heat 6 from the gate with Tigers getting a heat advantage from the gate in heat 7 although Wethers challenged Parker hard for the first two laps. Sneddon fell and remounted at the back at the end of the opening heat trying a rather ambitious outside drive to catch Ksiezak. Heat 8 was again from the gate, this time shared.

Lee Dicken gave the traveling fans plenty to shout about when he won heat 9 thwarting all Lawson's attempts to pass him with relative ease. In fact Tigers had been unlucky as they were on a 5-1 when Trent seemed to hit the troublesome spot coming out of the third bend. He remounted but was unable to recover even when Tessari fell off and remounted at the same spot on the third lap.

Ronnie Correy showed his class by taking Shane Parker wide at the start of heat 10 and allowing his partner Henrik Moller through into second. Shane fought back well and was able to get past Moller at the end of the first lap but could make no impression on Moller.

Lee Dicken came in to replace Lee Smethills in heat 11 and partner George Stancl made the gate but appeared to go wide to try and help his partner. Matthew Wethers took full advantage to show off the new inside line and pass both Tigers riders to go on and win. At the back, Dicken held off some brief pressure from Sneddon quite comfortably and the heat was shared.

Heat 12 saw Shane Parker gate and go and win by a considerable margin. behind him the other three riders competed in a hard opening bend, David McAllan came out ahead and rode a clever race to hold off Lawson and give Tigers a much needed 5-1. Correy then won heat 13 from the gate, the only incident of note being when Correy's chain guard came off at the start of the final lap and clipped Stancl on the shoulder! Lee Dicken was all over Matthew Wethers at the back but unable to find a way through.

As usual Jim McGregor could not let a meeting go by without adding some controversy to it and that came in heat 14. The Tigers pair gated but coming into the second bend Sneddon drove into McAllan's rear wheel, both riders ending up on the deck. To the surprise of many, both home and away fans, the referee decreed an unbelievable all four back. Sadly the re-run was also to claim all the wrong sort of talking points. Ksiezak led followed by Tully when David McAllan in third slid off on the section of the track at the third bend. He came to a sudden halt against the safety fence and although Sneddon did his best to lay his bike down he could not avoid slamming into the fallen Tiger leaving both riders injured. The second re-run saw Tully in for Sneddon and he and partner Daniele Tessari claimed an easy 5-1 against Robert Ksiezak to win not only the heat but also the meeting.

Heat 15 was all a matter of pride, particularly after John Campbell's comments on the mike about Shane Parker. Shane, George and Ronnie Correy were all very close on the opening bends, the Edinburgh man looking as though he might just edge it when his chain snapped. He did well to clear the track whilst Shane and George went on to secure the 5-1.

Unfortunately the Tigers middle order were posted missing on the night. The top end did what was required of them and the reserves exceeded expectations but with McAllan picking up an injury in addition to Tigers loosing the meeting it was a costly night for Glasgow.