Bears Take Tigers to the Wire
(Posted 23/09/07)

Despite Tigers at one point holding a 17 point lead, this meeting went down to a race to the line off the final bend of heat 15. Sadly it was also marred by injuries to Shane Parker and James Grieves after a heat 3 accident and we wish them both a speedy recovery.

Gary Havelock showed his class and intentions right from the start of the meeting, his rolling start in the opening heat probably only affected the distance of his win from the gate. David McAllan missed the gate and although he tried to challenge Dan Giffard he was unable to make a serious challenge.

The home side were back on track in heat 2, Dicken and Coles winning very comfortably from the gate despite both rearing at the start, along with third place Dan Giffard.

Heat 3 was to be full of incident for the wrong reasons. The initial running saw Grieves outgate Parker, Shane passing round the outside of the redcar man on the fourth bend of the opening lap. Cooper and Ksiezak were having their own battle at the back, Cooper just edging it on the backstraight of the opening lap but Robert pulling level on the home straight. Coming into the second bend of lap two they were side by side and Ksiezak, on the inside, moved Cooper out towards the fence. Cooper hit the deck as Robert pulled clear on the second bend - from our angle there did not look to be any contact although people with different views thought otherwise.The referee decreed there was no contact and Cooper was excluded from the re-run.

This time, Shane hit the front coming out of bend 2, Grieves giving chase. On the apex of the 3rd and 4th bends, Grieves clipped the back of Shane's rear wheel in what was a pure racing accident but the resultant crash looked horrific. Parker looked as if he was struggling to try and get off his bike before impact with the fence and high sided over the front of his bike, Grieves frantically trying to avoid as much contact as possible but colliding with both his opponent and the fence, both riders ending up in a tangled heap. After lengthy treatment, Shane hobbled gingerly back to the pits whilst James took the ambulance ride back. With both riders having taken quite a battering it was no surprise that both were subsequently withdrawn from the meeting.

The referee had no option but to call a two rider re-run with Coles replacing Parker. In view of averages, it seemed to make more sense for Coles to win the two man race but it was his partner Ksiezak who took the chequered flag with a comfortable win over his team mate.

Chris Kerr won heat 4 comfortably from the gate, Leverington passing Lee Dicken at the end of the opening lap and giving chase but although he made a considerable inroad into Kerr's lead he was unable to realistically challenge.

The class of Havelock was once more on show in heat 5 as he won by a country mile. The action was all at the back where, particularly in the early stages, Robert Ksiezak seemed to be covering Lee Dicken in second place. Adam McKinna did briefly pass Robert at the end of the opening lap but Robert soon hit back and held McKinna off rather easily in the end, passing Dicken for second place on the line.

Wato gated well in heat 6 but McAllan once again missed the gate. At the end of the first lap, David passed neatly inside Chris Kerr and almost passed Giffard on the second bend of the following lap. It was just a rehearsal for one lap later when he easily came up the inside of Giffard into second, going on to claim first after Wato went wide on the final bend of the race.

After a very tough opening bend, Trent pulled clear in heat 7 whilst Coles held off Paul Cooper until the third bend, allowing Trent a little leeway. Giffard followed his team mate Kerr passed Coles and with the field spread out the heat ended shared. Heat 8 was also to finish well spread out, Chris Kerr winning from the gate after only briefly being challenged by David McAllan on the opening lap.

When Chris Kerr made the gate in heat 9 many would have thought he would not be caught but Lee Dicken had other ideas. He powered round the outside of Kerr at the end of the opening lap with a superbly timed pass into the lead and never looked in danger of losing his lead. Robert Ksiezak briefly got ahead of Kerr coming up the inside of him on the final bend of lap 2 but Kerr quickly regained second place and held off all Robert's attempts from there on in. It was followed by another easy 5-1 for Watson and McAllan from the gate although how Paul Cooper stayed on his bike after riding quite a few inches up the boards on the fourth bend remains a mystery.

The Glasgow fans felt quite comfortable at this stage but Redcar were soon to bring us down to earth with a bump with three devastating heats and some good team management. First off, the unbeatable Havelock came out as a TR in heat 11. It was however his partner Paul Cooper who gated, Havelock settled in behind him until Cooper allowed him through on the final lap with the Bears pairing well clear for a 1-8. Redcar's team manager then took full advantage to bring Paul Cooper out off 15m in heat 12. Coles and Dicken gated and although Dicken looked much quicker, the pair settled in to team ride, Coles taking the outside line, Dicken the inside. It worked until the end of the third lap when Coles left too much space on the outside of bend 4 and Cooper superbly took advantage to sweep round into the lead.

Chris Kerr's rider replacement ride had been kept for heat 13 and again Redcar were to make it pay although the referee again appeared to miss a rolling start. The Redcar pair gated ahead in the original running of the heat before Wato came off trying an ambitious inside drive off the third bend and ending up clattering heavily into the fence. The re-run was more or less a carbon copy, minus Wato, with Trent trying hard but unable to seriously trouble the Redcar pairing.

An excellent ride from Robert Ksiezak saw him win heat 14 but with Lee Dicken unable to get past Giffard at the back it officially ended any faint hopes Glasgow still had of stealing the aggregate point.

It was now all down to a last heat decider for the points on the day and it went down to the wire. Havelock won from the start, or a few inches ahead of it! It was vital for Glasgow to avoid a 1-5 if they were to avoid a home defeat. Wato managed to get into second place coming out of the opening bends but Chris Kerr was right beside him and did at one point look as if he had pulled ahead in the race for second. Craig immediately hit back however and the two had what a certain Sky pundit would call a 'ding-dong' battle with Wato managing to hold Kerr off. Coming off the final bend, Kerr made one final challenge round the outside and pulled level. The two raced for the line with Wato's experience showing and enabling him to just claim second spot by the narrowest of margins and ensuring the home victory.

Both teams rallied round after loosing top riders in heat 3 and provided some good entertainment. Havelock was untouchable, Watson's heat 15 ride was crucial and to be able to hold off Kerr in the way he did after picking up a couple of knocks in his heat 13 fall was impressive. Lee Dicken gave his all as usual and finished Tigers top scorer but all riders on the day played their part in making it a good entertaining meeting.