Tigers Win Spring Trophy
(Posted 26/03/07)

Glasgow secured the first piece of silverware for the Trophy cabinet as they defeated Edinburgh Monarchs at home by 53-39 in a surprisingly quiet derby meeting at Ashfield.

Both sides were utilising rider replacement, Glasgow for Robert Ksiezak and Edinburgh for Matthew Wethers.

Having only trailed by one point from the opening leg Tigers were always favourites to lift the trophy but Ronnie Correy made the home side sit up and take notice in the opening heat when he swept round the outside of Parker on the opening bends and followed it with an outside pass of Leverington on bend three, going on to win the heat by a considerable margin.

His team mate Derek Sneddon blasted from the gate in heat 2 and won the heat by a similar margin although again it was shared with Tully at the back after challenging McAllan in the early stages.

After an initial first bend bunching incident in heat 3 that saw Stancl and Lawson end up on the deck, Stancl and Smethills worked well on the opening bends and pulled clear. The race was awarded when third place Tessari slid off on the opening bend of the third lap when well behind the Tigers pair.

Moller and Leverington had a coming together on the opening bends of heat 4, Trent making clear his displeasure at the Edinburgh mans move after the race. McAllan was already pulling clear but it allowed Tully through into second place for the Monarchs. Moller was straight out again in heat 5, the first running of which saw him warned for rolling at the start. The re run looked exactly the same but the referee let it go and Moller and partner Correy capitalised on it to inflict 1-5 on Stancl and Smethills.

This was followed by a heat 7 advantage for the away side with Lawson winning from the gate. Leverington and Dicken seemed to get in each others way on the opening bends and although Lee was able to pass Tessari coming out of the second bend, the Italian Monarch returned the favour on the following bend and suddenly the Tigers lead had been cut back to only two points. Straight away Tigers hit back with a 5-1 courtesy of Lee Smethills and David McAllan who actually looked quite a comfortable pairing. Monarchs Tully did actually appear to jump the start but then reared, negating any advantage which was presumably why the referee made the decision to let it go.

George Stancl was beaten from the gate by Monarchs on form reserve Derek Sneddon in heat 9 but this was followed by another Tigers 5-1 in heat 10 courtesy of David McAllan and Shane Parker although it was anything but easy. McAllan gated but succumbed to pressure from Lawson at the end of the opening lap with the Edinburgh rider using the outside line. However an excellent move by David up the inside of Lawson on the second bend of lap two saw McAllan regain the lead. Meanwhile Parker in third reeled Lawson in and swept round the outside of Lawson on the final bend to secure the 5-1.

Trent Leverington made the gate in heat 11 and Lee Dicken swept round the outside on the opening bends into second place. Ronnie Correy’s chain broke on the third lap with him in third place resulting in the race being stopped in the interests of safety and awarded.

Monarchs elected to bring Sneddon out as a TR in heat 12 but he was beaten from the gate by George Stancl. Lee Dicken suffered an engine failure towards the end of the second lap whilst lying third. Edinburgh captain Correy gated in 13 but Shane was soon on his tail, passing up the inside of him coming out of the opening bend of lap two. Unfortunately for the Edinburgh man his engine then blew but it left the way clear for Parker and Leverington to secure another 5-1.

Lee Smethills suffered a cruel blow in heat 14 when, well ahead of the opposition, his new engine seized and Edinburgh were able to take advantage with their second 5-1 of the afternoon. Heat 15 was a mere formality but it was good to see the ‘George and Shane’ show take to the road once more as they finished the meeting off with a stylish 5-1.

Overall Tigers rarely seemed troubled by a Monarch’s side and even when the scores were close there somehow seemed little doubt of the outcome. Disappointingly, after Friday night’s good crowd at Armadale, few of the Edinburgh fans made it through to Ashfield and perhaps this contributed to the lack of atmosphere at the meeting.

Stancl had one poor ride but was once again stylish. Shane has recaptured his form despite not having his best engines and yet. Without a doubt the Tigers main man was David McAllan who put in a tremendous shift to record 11+1 from 5. Trent also quietly scored well. Although Lee Smethills will be disappointed, he was starting to look comfortable with the track and showed composure. Once again Lee Dicken looked a lot quicker and more competitive than last season. It is early days but Tigers are showing signs of being able to develop into a solid side round Ashfield.

Finally a word on the referee. On Friday the referee was conspicuous with controversial decisions. Today’s referee, Stuart Wilson, showed common sense - especially in the decision to call all four back in heat 3 and his willingness to award races - and allowed the riders to get on with it which made it a lot more pleasant to watch.