Paid Max for Trent as Tigers Win
(Posted 30/07/07)

A Trent Leverington paid maximum helped Tigers towards a comfortable 12 point win over the Islanders although the visitors took the bonus point as expected.

The curse of the rain once more struck on 4pm, delaying the start and making the track heavy. The Islanders pair took full advantage, Gathercole winning from the gate by an impressive margin. Holder claimed second spot after going round Craig Watson on the opening bends and despite riding the final lap with no goggles.

Tigers hit back straight away with a 5-1 of their own after a good gate from Michael Coles and a good move by Lee Dicken on the opening bends to force Johnson wide, allowing him to come through into second.

Glasgow hopes were briefly raised when Parker and Ksiezak gated in heat 3 but Jason Bunyan soon brought the home fans down to earth with a superb ride which say him drive inside Robert Ksiezak on the final bend of the opening lap, keep the throttle open coming into the first bend of the second lap to give him the drive to pass inside Shane Parker on the second bend of lap 2. Bunyan went on to win by an impressive margin, having made a mockery of recent accusations that it is impossible to pass on the inside at Ashfield.

Glen Phillips was off 15m in heat 4 after tape touching but was able to claim a third place after Lee Dicken fell and remounted towards the end of the opening lap. Trent Leverington claimed his first win of the afternoon comfortably. This was followed by a win from the gate for Chris Holder in heat 5 although both Ksiezak and Gathercole seemed to be struggling at this stage with the conditions.

Watson gated in heat 6 but Trent copied the move often seen from Shane Parker by swooping round the outside of everyone and into the lead coming into the back straight. He pulled well clear and Watson was able to hold second place despite Glen Phillips attentions for the 5-1 that gave the Tigers the lead for the first time in the meeting.

Tigers then had a bit of help from lady luck in heat 7. Jason Bunyan's poor gate saw him lying third when he fell on the third bend of the opening lap to allow Michael Coles through. It has to be one of the quickest remounts seen at Ashfield and Bunyan was flying but was never going to catch Coles. However, the visitors suffered their second fall of the race when Stojanowski surprisingly lost in on the final bend of the third lap whilst leading. Glasgow gratefully accepted the 5-1.

With Wato in for McAllan in heat 8, Chris Johnson took him wide on the opening bends to claim the lead coming out of bend 2, Wato unable to do any more than track him for the remainder of the race. Lee Dicken fell and remounted at the start of the second lap whilst Cory Gathercole nearly ran out of track at the end of the second lap going too wide but other than that there was no real action in the heat.

Shane Parker made his outside swoop round Glen Phillips at the start of heat 9 and pulled clear. Robert Ksiezak in third place challenged Phillips but his attempt to pass round the outside of him at the end of lap three was blocked and Phillips pulled away.

Islanders recorded a very easy 5-1 from the gate in heat 10 before a nasty accident at the start of heat 11 saw Holder excluded ad both he and Leverington suffering from the after effects. Holder appeared to make a rash move wide on the opening bends, collecting his team mate Cory Gathercole and crashing into the fence with Trent being caught up at the back and taking a knock trying to avoid the fallen Islanders. With the accident being on the opening bends most referees would have been inclined to put all four back but Mr Steele called the decision and excluded Holder - rightly in our opinion. When the re-run got underway, Gathercole outgated Trent but a determined Trent past on the third bend of the opening lap and pulled clear. Gathercole appeared to be slowing as the race went on and Michael Coles took full advantage, finally catching him and executing a determined outside pass coming out of the pits bend on the final lap for a well deserved second spot.

Michael's reward was a place in heat 12 but it was to come to an unfortunate end for him as his engine blew on the back straight of lap three whilst he was in third place. Parker won the heat comfortably from the gate after a tough opening bend with Jason Bunyan.

Chris Holder was still feeling the after effects of his heat 11 accident and missed the two minutes for heat 13, being replaced by Chris Johnson. Johnson soon incurred the wrath of Trent Leverington when a reckless move coming out for the second bend resulted in him collecting Trent and sending him into the backstraight fence. Despite being in obvious discomfort, Trent came out for the re-run and recorded an easy 5-1 with Wato from the gate.

There was a little bit of panto left in the meeting as Isle of Wight firstly announced they would be bringing Jason Bunyan out as a tactical substitute in heat 14 before realising they had got a little mixed up with the rules and changing it to a tactical ride for Stojanowski. It was all academic by this time anyway but Robert Ksiezak made sure the effects of the TR were minimised, wining the heat from the gate.

The formality of heat 15 also had its share of comedy with Jason Bunyan unfortunately dropping a chain on the way to the gate and being excluded under 2 minutes. The fresh two minutes started before he got back to the pits, his team did their best to beat it but the klaxon sounded just as he returned to the track and the heat went ahead with 3 riders only. Tigers recorded a 5-1 from the gate.

Conditions suffered a little early on from the showers but the track staff did an admirable job to give the riders a decent surface. For the Islanders, Holder was perhaps a little disappointing after all the hype but Jason Bunyan more than made up for that with some fast stylish riding worth far more than his points tally suggests.

Tigers pulled together to record the victory and whilst Trent rightly gets the plaudits for his paid maximum mention must also be made of Michael Coles who seemed to thrive on the wet track and had by far his best meeting for the Tigers.