Fast Tigers Outshine Diamonds
(Posted 27/08/07)

The first meeting of the back to back bank holiday league matches with Newcastle went comfortably the Tigers way, the home side giving themselves a 17 point lead to take down to Newcastle Greyhound Stadium and a track record thrown in for good measure.

The start of the meeting was delayed to allow the larger than normal crowd in but there was nothing slow about David McAllan's opening heat winning time - only 0.1 off the track record. Had he not shut off approaching the line David could well have beat or at least equaled it in his win from the gate. Unfortunately Craig Watson had a slow start to the meeting, loosing third place to Christian Henry coming out of the final bend.

Michael Coles recently found form continued as he won heat 2 easily after some pretty nifty gating. All eyes were on the race at the back between Sam Dore and Lee Dicken, the two passing and re passing each other on almost every bend in the first two laps before Dore managed to get the advantage towards the end of the second lap and hold onto third.

With McAllan's superb opening ride, it was clear Shane was going to try and beat his track record in heat three. he led from the gate and clearly wound it on going full pelt for four and a quarter laps to make sure. On returning to the pits, he was actually shaking his head as if he felt he had not managed it but was met by David McAllan at the pits gate, first to congratulate him on the new track record. Whilst Shane was powering away out front, Robert Ksiezak was putting in a sterling effort in second place to hold off the close attentions of Paul Clews and Josef Franc for the entire race to secure a Tigers 5-1.

Sean Stoddart got a flier in heat 4 but Trent was ahead coming out of the second bend and went on to win by a country mile. Carl Wilkinson passed inside Lee Dicken at the end of the third lap for third place.

After Raun touched the tapes and was replaced by Stoddart, Parker won a well spread out heat 5 from the gate.

David McAllan was once again very impressive winning heat 6 from the gate but although partner Watson had gated alongside him he was caught sleeping on the final bend when Carl Wilkinson swept round the outside to steal second place.

In heat 7 Josef Franc got the better of a tough opening bend to lead Trent Leverington from start to finish. His team mate Paul Clews managed to pass outside Michael Coles on the final bend of the third lap and although Coles fought hard to return the compliment, he had to shut off as Clews reared slightly on the backstraight of the final lap and was unable to recover.

Once again David McAllan was very impressive wining a dull heat 8 by a considerable distance before there was a little bit of controversy in heat 9. The tigers pairing of Parker and Ksiezak had gated and were comfortably ahead coming into the backstraight. Young Sam Dore came off at the back on his own and quickly moved to clear the track. However the referee quickly and somewhat unnecessarily put the red lights on and excluded Dore from the re-run. It turned out to be academic as Parker and Ksiezak won the re-run from the gate with an uneventful heat 10 also being won from the gate - this time by Josef Franc who thwarted McAllan's maximum hopes with his victory.

The Diamonds brought Christian Henry out on a TR in heat 11 and he duly obliged, winning from the gate. He was helped by both Tigers riders missing the gate but Trent fought back to try and minimise the damage taking advantage of an error by Raun towards the end of the second lap to pass inside him.

Shane Parker continued to show the way in heat 12, pulling well clear of the rest of the field out of the second bend. Lee Dicken and Pepe Franc were to provide the talking points of this race however. They were having an excellent battle with each other with countless passes between the two. At the end of the third lap, Lee was slightly ahead when Franc misjudged a pass up the inside and collected the Glasgow man's rear wheel, Dicken falling heavily into the fence. Dicken reacted angrily and had to be held back from going after Franc who sensibly took the option to keep out of the road. One rider who deserves a lot of credit over the incident was Sean Stoddart. In as a reserve switch, he had been behind Dicken when he came off and did superbly to lay his bike down quickly and safely. Additionally he reacted quickest of all to try and calm Dicken down and physically restrain him from going after Franc, undoubtedly saving the Glasgow rider a hefty fine at the very least. After a lengthy delay, the referee awarded the race.

Watson won heat 13 from the gate with Christian Henry in second place before Newcastle brought recent villain Josef Franc out off 15m as a Tactical substitute in heat 14. The move failed however as Ksiezak and Coles gated well, Coles riding an intelligent line in the opening bends to block Stoddart. Both Tigers pulled clear and went on to record a comfortable 5-1. Stoddart did the 'team' thing and slowed on the backstraight of the second lap to let his partner through, almost having to stop to do so, Franc was that far off the pace.

David McAllan was deservedly given a place in heat 15 alongside Shane Parker. After a false start with Henry rolling, Shane parker won the final heat from the gate with the Newcastle pairing of Henry and Franc team riding to keep David McAllan at the back - although only just.

It gives the Tigers a comfortable lead for the return meeting at Brough Park and there were good performances from McAllan and Parker in particular. Dicken and Will probably both feel disappointed especially with the points that seemed thrown away.