Hollow Victory for Tigers
(Posted 14/06/07)

Once again the Tigers appeared to lack the killer instinct as after a lightening start they fell away and ended up beating Newport by a mere 7 points and losing the second aggregate point of the season.

Nick Simmons managed to pull out his cut out as he came out of the pits gate with time counting down for the start of the opening heat and was excluded to be replaced by Rajkowski in the opening heat. Whilst the reserve replacement for Newport gated, George Stancl managed to come up his inside on the opening bend then push him wide. It not only allowed George to come through to first but he was followed by David McAllan and Rajkowski's team mate Tom Hedley. From then on, it was the Tigers all the way for a heat 1 5-1 in our favour from a change.

Once again Rajkowski gated in heat 2 but the Glasgow pair were chasing, Coles close behind when the Pole shed a chain going into the opening bend of the second lap and come off. With Rajkowski excluded, Ksiezak made the gate in the re run and he and Coles went on to record another home 5-1 in a well spread out heat.

Unfortunately Lee Dicken missed the gate in heat 3 which was won by partner Shane Parker from the gate. Newport's Phil Morris was never far off Shane's back wheel without really looking challenging. It was back to 5-1's in heat 4 though although again the Tigers pairing were outgated, this time by Barry Burchatt. Robert Ksiezak took the Newport reserve wide this time on the opening bends with an excellent move which allowed him to come through into first place with Trent, originally at the back, was left the room to come through into second place, the Tigers pairing once again pulling clear.

With remedial repairs taking place to the kick board on the pits bend, riders for heat 5 were almost caught out when it was announced there was less than one minute remaining and that the referee had NOT cancelled the two minutes to allow the repairs. However all four made it to tapes in time and when the tapes went up Shane Parker absolutely shot from the gate and won the heat by a good margin. Lee Dicken lost out on second place coming out of the third bend when Nick Simmons passed on the inside after the two had been side by side coming down the backstraight. It took a very determined effort by Lee to stop Hedley following his team mate through at the end of the first lap in particular.

After a fairly level gate, Chris Schramm came out of bend 2 ahead in heat 6 with George Stancl in second. In a strange opening lap, David McAllan appeared to get caught out by the track coming out of the third bend allowing Rajkowski to come through on the inside into third. However David got going again almost immediately, picked up some drive and went passed the inside of the Newport reserve before they reached the end of the lap.

Newport elected to bring Phil Morris out on a TR in heat 7 but when they tapes went up they must have wished they had gone for Atkin instead as the veteran made an excellent gate and was untroubled for the entire race. Trent Leverington slotted in to second place and worked very hard for the four laps to keep Phil Morris behind him and minimise the damage.

Tigers came back to earth with a bump in heat 8, conceding a 5-1 from the gate despite eventual race winner Tom Hedley locking up badly on the second bend of lap two. David McAllan made a couple of challenges on Burchatt, nearly losing it after a challenge at the end of lap three and coming back for another try coming off the final bend of the race but just not having the drive.

Schramm once again showed off his gating skills in heat 9 but Shane Parker swept round the opening bends into the lead and went on to win by a country mile. The heat was well spread out with Dicken comfortably disposing of Rajkowski at the back.

Heat 10 saw Stancl and McAllan make the gate but Tony Atkin found a very fast outside line. Despite McAllan's best efforts he finally past the Scot on the outside at the end of lap 3. David made the mistake of trying to come back going wide on the opening bends of the final lap but only succeeded in loosing ground and the experienced Phil Morris took full advantage to come through for third place.

Tigers recorded a heat advantage in heat 11, Leverington winning from the gate with Simmons passing inside Coles on the second bend. A trademark Shane Parker move almost proved costly for Glasgow in heat 12 when he tried to take the Newport riders wide to allow partner Robert Ksiezak through . Robert unfortunately wasn't quite up to the move this time and it resulted in Rajkowski getting a clear run through into the lead instead with Shane back in third. However in true Parker style Rajkowski was wound in and Shane past him on the inside coming into the third bend of the penultimate lap with Rajkowski looking round wondering where he had gone!

Heat 13 was important and Stancl and Leverington lived up to what was required. Trent in particular rode an excellent opening couple of bends moving Schramm wide then holding off Schramm's challenge for the next couple of laps to ensure the 5-1.

It all went wrong for the Tigers however when Newport hit back with a 5-1 of their own in heat 14 more or less from the gate and Glasgow were left with a situation that they needed a 5-0 in the final heat to get a run off for the bonus - something that was never really a realistic thought.

Things did not get any better in the final heat when the Newport pairing of Atkin and Schramm recorded a 1-5 from the gate. With the Newport riders having gated and both being inside, Stancl went wide on the opening bends blocking Shane Parkers outside move and the Tigers pairing were left well behind. Shane passed his partner on the third lap and gave chase but the Wasps trio were already well clear.

The result on the night flattered Newport somewhat but Glasgow once again threw away points with a disjointed team performance.