Winning League Start for Tigers
(Posted 20/05/07)

Glasgow started their League Campaign off with a relatively comfortable win over the Mildenhall Fen Tigers although for the second home meeting in a row the home side made the worst possible start to the meeting.

In the opening heat both Lee Dicken and George Stancl were caught out at the gate and were comprehensively beaten by Tom P Madsen with his partner Shaun tacey finishing a comfortable second with the only resistance being a brief challenge from Stancl in the middle of the race.

Heat two got underway at the second attempt, the initial attempt correctly being called back after McAllan was moving before the tapes rose. It did not put David off however as he made an even better start from standing in the rerun and quickly opened up a large gap from the rest of the field. Lee Smethills made second place his own and the heat was already well spread out by the time Jamie Robertson slid off coming out of the third bend on the penultimate lap. Partner Mark Thompson did very well to lay his bike down, the race was stopped in the interests of safety and correctly awarded.

He keeps claiming he's not a gater but Shane Parker certainly made the gate in heat 3 and went on to win by a considerable margin. Robert Ksiezak was slightly baulked by Kyle Legault coming into the opening bends, resulting in him dropping to the back. Legault then did well to hold on at the start of the second lap when he locked slightly on the first bend which basically brought Robert back into the race as it slowed both Mildenhall riders. However although Ksiezak got close to Jason King on a few occasions, King was able to hold him off quite comfortably and the heat was shared.

Another electric gate from David McAllan saw him take the lead in heat 4. Trent Leverington missed the gate but an excellent opening bend saw him come through into second. The Glasgow riders pulled clear, again winning by a considerable margin, and rather bizarrely the only real racing was between the Mildenhall pairing of Jirout and Robertson at the back with Jirout blocking the faster looking reserve and Robertson trying a few lines to get round him.

Ksiezak looked very sluggish in heat 5, coming in at the rear in a heat Shane Parker won from the gate.

Stancl and Dicken came out in heat 6 no doubt determined to make amends for the opening heat disaster. This task was made easier for them by Mario Jirout who looked completely uninterested, coasting round from the early stages making absolutely no attempt to race. Full credit to Mark Thompson who showed Jirout what he should be doing by attempting to challenge the Glasgow pair for most of the race although in reality the biggest risk was when the Glasgow team mates nearly came together going into the third bend on the opening lap.

Mildenhall's Kyle Legault easily won heat 7 from the gate. the remaining three riders were in close contention for the whole four laps with Jason King trying everything he could think off to pass Lee Smethills. In turn, Lee fended him off perfectly although he had to work all the way to the line.

Jamie Robertson managed to come in between the Glasgow pairing of Dicken and McAllan coming out of the second bend in heat 8. With Lee pulling clear, David immediately fought back executing a neat inside pass on the final bend of the opening lap. Robertson had no intention of giving up however and the two battled for the remainder of the race with David being just too sharp for Robertson in the end.

With McAllan flying, team manager Stewart Dickson took the decision to bring him into heat 9 in place of the out of sorts Robert Ksiezak and it was a move that certainly paid off with david and Shane claiming a fairly comfortable 5-1 with Mildenhall's Mark Thompson once again deserving a special mention for never giving up - unlike his team mate. Undoubtedly the talking point of this heat was the absolutely disgraceful 'display' of Mildenhall's Mario Jirout. In his previous race he had coasted from the end of the opening lap, this time he insulted the paying public and the Mildenhall fans further by coasting from the opening bends in a display there surely cannot be any excuse for.

During grading, Michael Max interviewed Kyle Legault asking about his move from Sheffield's large track to Mildenhall. Ironically Kyle said he preferred the smaller track racing and then proceeded to run out of track on the third lap of heat 12 whilst lying third. His team mate Jason King had made the start and held off Stancl for the entire race with Legault challenging the Glasgow man before his fall. Lee Dicken was well of the pace at the back on his second bike, clearly with bike problems, but although Legault remounted and kept on trying (Mario Jirout please note!) Lee was able to claim the single point for third place.

With Mildenhall now 14 points down, Lawrence Rodgers brought Tom P Madsen out as a TR in heat 11. Trent's gating had been sluggish so far but he chose this heat to get it spot on. Shaun Tacey initially gave chase with Lee Smethills stuck behind Madsen at the back but on the final lap with trent still comfortably ahead, he did the right thing and allowed his team mate through into second place, settling in behind him to protect him from Lee Smethills who, although not far behind, never realistically looked like passing. It was good awareness from Tacey however to make sure.

An excellent ride from Kyle Legault in heat 13 allowed him to claim the scalp of Tigers captain Shane Parker and at the same time thwart David McAllan's hopes of a paid maximum. The referee held the tapes for rather longer than usual and this seemed to put both Glasgow riders off. the young Canadian took full advantage and flew from the gate. Although Shane chased and closed down the gap, Legault showed great awareness to hold him off, particularly coming off the final bend when he was able to block Shane's outside drive to claim a hard fought for and well deserved heat win.

Not surprisingly, Mildenhall chose to replace Jirout in heat 13, bringing in Jamie Robertson. George stancl won the heat from the gate although again a poor gate from Trent saw him at the rear initially although he was able to pass inside Robertson at the end of the opening lap into third.

With Ksiezak having been a bit hit and miss during the meeting, most expected Mildenhall to try Kyle Legault as a Tactical Substitute in heat 14 in place of Jamie Robertson bearing in mind that the bonus point is still very much up for grabs. Surprisingly though when the change was announced it was merely a reserve switch with Mark Thompson coming in for Robertson and a few Glasgow fans breathed a sigh of relief. It may have turned out to be academic anyhow as Ksiezak and Smethills both made the gate and were soon well clear of King and Thompson when Thompson took a very heavy fall coming out of the third bend. Thankfully after some treatment on track Mark was able to refuse the offer of a trip back to the pits in the ambulance and walk back unaided, albeit rather winded. the race itself was awarded, again correctly.

There is something about a heat 15 pairing of Stancl and Parker at Ashfield that is special and they did not disappoint this week. Shane took full advantage to gain revenge for his earlier defeat from Legault by storming to victory by a considerable margin with George in second to give Tigers a 22 point victory.

Jirout apart, the Mildenhall team worked hard. Jirout in the past has previously been identified as a true entertainer. Whilst previously he deserved the accolade, today he let the fans, his team and himself down badly.

For the Tigers we managed a comfortable victory and there is definitely good team spirit in the camp but we have still to see all 7 riders hit form at the same time. If that final piece comes together and we can stop giving the opposition a 4 point start in the opening heat we could give some team a hammering but meantime it does leave us a little vulnerable. David McAllan deservedly got the sponsors Rider of the Meeting award with an excellent display.