Another Heavy Defeat
(Posted 12/06/07)

The second meeting of the three day Southern tour provided a similar score to the first as Tigers went down by 57-35 to a decent looking Rye House side bolstered by an Elite League guest, Danny King, in for the injured Tai Woffinden.

Yet again the Tigers made it easy for the opposition in the opening heat, going down to a more or less unchallenged 5-1.

Robert Ksiezak won heat 2 from the gate although he was put under pressure towards the end of the race by the rider he was brought in to replace last season, Adam Roynon. Unfortunately Lee Smethills was once again anchored at the back after a poor start.

The difference in standard between Premier and Elite League gating was perhaps highlighted in heat 3 with King winning an uneventful heat from Parker as a result.

All four riders appeared nervy at the starting gate for heat 4, Adam Roynon being the main culprit and ending up being replaced by Luke Bowen after breaking the tapes. After another unsatisfactory start, David McAllan missed the gate in the third attempt at running the race and was unable to make up any ground on the opposition. Robert Ksiezak held off Bowen's token challenge to retain second place behind the fast gating Boxall.

Finally the meeting provided a pass in heat 5, and a classy move it was by Danny King powering round the outside of Lee Dicken at the end of the second lap. Another easy 5-1 for the home side followed in heat 6 and with the Tigers already 14 points down, Shane Parker was brought in as a TR in heat 7 to try and stop the rot.

There was a little bit of handbags from Bowen when he and Leverington were caught up in a classic case of first bend bunching in the first running. for some reason, the hot headed Essex lad went looking for a bit of fisticuffs but things were soon calmed down, the fence repaired and the riders at the gate for the re-run.

Boxall made the gate but was overhauled by Trent Leverington and the end of the opening lap, with Shane Parker close behind in third. Boxall was not going to give up without a fight however and rather than succumb to Parker's pressure he continued to challenge Trent, finally passing him in a copy cat maneouvre at the end of the penultimate lap. Showing good team awareness, Trent slowed to allow Shane through for the double points before the finish.

It looked promising for the Tigers in heat 8 when both Dicken and Ksiezak made the gate. The pair did not however manage to team ride and the Rye pairing took full opportunity to pass Robert Ksiezak with a pincer movement on the second lap. Lee did his best to hold off the Rockets pairing but Roynon was able to slip past into the lead at the end of the third lap. Lee did well to thwart all the attempts by Roynon's partner Robbie Kessler to follow suit on the final lap and managed to hold on to second place.

King and Allen recorded an easy 5-1 for the home side in heat 9 with David McAllan and Lee Smethills effectively offering no resistance and worryingly it looked as if it would be followed by another 5-1 in heat 10 when Neath and Kessler both made electric gates. Shane Parker however split them courtesy of a pass on Kessler going down the backstraight of lap two. He gave chase on Neath but the home rider just managed to hold on.

Dicken and Stancl took advantage of the newly graded track in heat 11, both making the gate but whilst lee was able to hold on out front, George was past going into the penultimate bend leaving Glasgow fans disappointed with the heat advantage.

Shane Parker lowered Danny King's colours in heat 12 when he beat him out of the trap and went on to win relatively comfortably. The action in the heat was all at the back with Roynon and Leverington swapping places a couple of times with Robert coming out on top to give the Tigers their second genuine heat advantage in a row.

Tigers hopes of a recovery however were quickly brought to a shuddering halt when Stancl and McAllan were soundly beaten by Neath and Boxall in heat 13.

Surprisingly Rye House did not bring Roynon in for Bowen in heat 14 as expected and Ksiezak and Leverington looked to take full advantage of this as they gated in front in heat 14. Unfortunately it only lasted for just over a lap however, Allen getting the better of Trent on the opening bends of lap two to split the Tigers.

Lee Dicken deservedly got a rare heat 15 appearance alongside Shane Parker but team riding from the Rye House pairing of Neath and Boxall after both had gated saw Tigers lose another 5-1 and finish the meeting with a hefty 22 point deficit.

Once again Tigers were far short of firing on all cylinders. As happened the night before, Parker and Ksiezak performed well and although Lee Dicken failed to score in his first and last rides he too rode well and possibly deserved an even better return than his 7 points. However for the second night running Glasgow had 4 riders off form, this time scoring a mere 7 points between them. rye house are probably not one of the best teams Glasgow have come up against so far this season, even with their Elite League guest, but the manner in which they easily disposed of the Tigers challenge on the night will be ringing alarm bells for the Glasgow promotion.