Rebels Dispose of Tigers
(Posted 08/06/07)

It had been hoped Glasgow could provide a challenge in this meeting following the entertaining encounter at the Oak Tree Arena last month but in reality they never got going and ended up loosing by a hefty 20 points.

Once again the Tigers got off to the worst possible start with our now very weak looking opening pairing loosing yet another 5-1 from the gate. In fairness, heat winner Zetterstrom did record the fastest PL time but disappointingly he did so despite being outgated by Stancl.

The reserves started to claw back some of the deficit with a heat advantage courtesy of Robert Ksiezak from the gate in heat 2 with Lee Smethills just managing to hold off Danny Warwick at the back for third place.

Shane led by example quite literally in heat 3, winning the first of five consecutive shared heats from the gate with David McAllan unfortunately rooted at the back. Trent followed by winning heat 4, again from the gate, although Ritchie Hawkins challenged him all the way but could not find a way past.

Strangely the track at the oak Tree Arena, normally renowned for being a racers circuit, was not providing any passing lines whatsoever at this stage and it seemed to be a case of however you came out of the gate was determining your finishing order. Heat 5 saw Stancl win from the gate with Zetterstrom winning heat 6 again from the gate.

Heat 7 finally saw a passing manoeuvre but unfortunately it was a Tiger on the receiving end of it. Shane Parker gated with David McAllan third. Somerset's Simon Walker had missed the gate but tracked David McAllan. On the third lap, the pressure appeared to force David into a slight mistake, straying from the racing line and allowing Walker the opportunity to come through into third.

It was back to 'from the gate' in heat 8 and unfortunately the home pairing outgated Robert Ksiezak - in for Lee Dicken - and Lee Smethills and won very comfortably. Another heat from the gate saw Kramer win heat 9 from Trent Leverington with Robert Ksiezak doing well under pressure to hold off Jordan Frampton at the back.

Fast gating Zetterstrom outgated Shane Parker to win heat 10 and with David McAllan trailing at the rear Somerset began to open up the gap between the two sides.

At this stage the track was watered and graded and the difference was immediate. Stancl gated but was quickly passed round the outside by Simon Walker who took the lead coming in to the back straight. Stancl was then put under pressure by Ritchie Hawkins and after a short battle between the two, George capitulated and Hawkins pulled clear to give Somerset a 5-1.

With Tigers now finding themselves 12 points down, it was no surprise to see Shane Parker come out as a TR in heat 12. He was however outgated by Emil Kramer and was unable to make any inroads on the home riders lead. With Robert losing out on third spot to Danny Warwick after the latter took advantage of a slight error to pass him on the second lap, Tigers had to settle for a share of the spoils.

Heat 13 is best glossed over with Zetterstrom and Hawkins recording an easy 5-1 with the only challenge being early on from Trent and it was followed by Somerset's fifth 5-1 of the meeting in heat 14.

With Glasgow well and truly already dispatched of by the Rebels, heat 15 was merely a matter of pride. It seemed fitting that Shane Parker therefore gated and became only the second rider to beat Magnus Zetterstrom round his home track this season, Mildenhall's Kyle Legault being the other.

Certainly for two thirds of the meeting the track was not providing much of an opportunity for decent speedway but it was the same for both sides and far too many of the Tigers riders were content to give up too easily. 'Team Australia' - Shane, Trent and Robert - are probably the only ones who could come out of this meeting with their heads held high, the remaining four scoring a pathetically poor 6 points between them will no doubt be very disappointed.