Somerset Knock Out Tigers
(Posted 06/05/07)

In a meeting affected badly by rain in the latter stages, Somerset Rebels deservedly went through to the next round of the Knock Out cup at the expense of the Tigers.

The 14 point deficit was always going to be hard to claw back but right from the off it was made even more difficult with Somerset inflicting a 5-1 on Glasgow in the opening heat courtesy of Zetterstrom and Walker. Zetterstrom won from the gate and a very hard opening bend by Walker saw him take both Tigers riders wide and although Dicken pursued him in the latter stages, very nearly finding a way through up the inside at the end of the third lap, Walker held on.

Lee Smethills won heat 2 comfortably from the gate but partner David McAllan had missed the gate and was firmly at the rear. David never gives in though and managed to squeeze past on the outside of a rather wobbly Suchanek on the back straight of the second lap and going on to chase down Warwick. Warwick came off the final bend slightly ahead although David had more speed as they drove to the line. The close finish was awarded in David's favour although in all honesty it had looked from the back straight as if Warwick had managed to hold on.

Both Somerset riders came out with green helmet colour's in heat 3, Frampton only just noticing in time to rush back and make the change to yellow before lining up against Parker and Ksiezak. The Aussie pairing easily outgated the opposition and recorded a very comfortable and untroubled 5-1 from the gate. Leverington and McAllan hit the front at the start of heat 4 but Warwick swept round the outside of trent Leverington at the end of the first lap. Over the next two laps there was a good battle between the two. David McAllan out front took the outside line at the end of the third lap to try and help his partner out, Trent on the inside line looked as if he would have the power to come through. Warwick however stuck to the outside and basically ran out of track, hitting the fence with partner Hawkins doing well to avoid him. The race was correctly awarded and Tigers had another 5-1.

Shane Parker was involved in a controversial exclusion in the first leg at Somerset and, having had the benefit of seeing still photographs of the incident that saw him excluded from heat 4 he could feel a little unlucky again. In fairness, at first viewing it looked to most as though he clipped the fast gating Zetterstrom at the start of the second lap whilst trying to pass on the inside. It had seemed strange that Shane had made up so much ground on the Swede between crossing the start finish line and entering the first bend and the stills photos by one of the photographers appeared to show Zetterstrom starting to come off before contact was made. However to the naked eye, the exclusion seemed fair. Zetterstrom once again gated in the re-run and comfortably won the well spread out heat.

Stancl didn't make the gate in heat 6 but made a good outside swoop round Ritchie Hawkins on the opening bends and went on to win the heat easily, unfortunately Lee Dicken was off the pace at the back however.

Heat 7 was won by Emil Kramer from the gate despite Trent Leverington's close attentions for most of the race. Warwick won heat 8 from the gate with McAllan in second. Lee Smethills had missed the gate again but was able to claim third place after driving inside Simon Walker at the end of the third lap. Unfortunately David McAllan - trying hard to ride through the pain barrier - had to be helped off his bike at the end of the race and back to the pits.

Heat 9 was once more from the gate, Shane Parker winning by a considerable distance with Ksiezak holding off Suchanek at the back, heat 10 being decided in a similar fashion with George Stancl claiming first and Lee Dicken third.

After an unsatisfactory start which had seen both rebels riders jump the start, the heavens opened and the re-run took place in poor conditions, emphasised by a winning time over 3½ seconds slower than the previous heat. Lee Smethills had surprised everyone by coming out of bend 2 ahead of Zetterstrom and worked hard to hold him off. It was not to be however as Zorro pounced on a small error in the tricky conditions at the end of the third lap to pass on the inside, going on to claim the victory.

There were a few heavy showers and track inspections by riders and referee before it was decided to recommence the meeting after a delay of around 20 minutes and some sterling work by the track staff to combat the effects of the heavy rain.

It was obvious that the opportunity for racing would be curtailed due to the weather and that gating would be more important than ever. To Glasgow fans surprise, David McAllan took his place in the line up in heat 14. There seemed to be an element of tactical riding in this heat, the only pass being one made relatively easy for David to pass inside Danny Warwick with the resultant 4-2 for the Tigers being exactly what was needed to put the rebels 10 points down and allow them to bring Zetterstrom out in the black and white helmet cover in heat 13. As expected, Zorro won from the gate and with his partner Ritchie Hawkins claiming third ahead of Trent Leverington it effectively ended the contest barring two 5-0's to the tigers in the final two heats.

With the rain coming down heavily again, that faint hope was soon discounted with Warwick winning a well spread out heat from the gate, the riders basically having to ride well spaced out to have any chance of seeing where they were going.

With the rain going off again at the end of the heat, the formality of heat 15 saw Zetterstrom outgated not only by Emil Kramer but also by Shane Parker. Shane seemed unfazed by the conditions and swept round the outside of Kramer at the end of the first lap, claiming the win with no further passing taking place.

It certainly wasn't an epic meeting and the downpour at heat 11 made conditions very tricky. For some reason the tigers as a team still seem to be mis-firing a bit and again made some costly errors. After a very poor first race, George did score some decent points but did not look the same rider as he has done in the past few weeks. Lee Dicken struggled badly today and although Lee Smethills scored well enough his last place in heat 7 saw him well off the pace. Robert rode consistently and Trent continues to be solid although heat 13 is a problem. Given that he was struggling to walk before the meeting David McAllan's points tally and performance cannot be faulted and Shane didn't actually finish behind an opponent today, his only dropped points being by way of his exclusion.

Somerset were deserving winners over the two legs and although Zetterstrom top scored for them by a mile, Danny Warwick was possibly the 'tie' winner for them with his 7 points from reserve.