Meet the Riders Night
(Posted 22/03/07)

Despite the team having a familiar look about it, there was a healthy turn out last night in the bar at Ashfield to meet the riders who will do battle for the Tigers in 2007.

It was a relatively informal night with Michael Max conducting proceedings and was sensibly kept relatively short to allow the younger members of the audience a chance to enjoy it and still make school in the morning.

Our recollection of what was said by each rider and by Alan Dick is below in the order in which the riders were interviewed:-

Lee Dicken:-

Lee is optimistic about the new season and keen to repay the fans for their support last year. he admitted to mixed feelings at the end of 2006 with his options including retiring with a young family to support but Glasgow offering him a team place was enough to realise he wanted to continue. Although starting at reserve, he agrees with those who say riders of his age and experience should not have that opportunity but he plans to grab it with both hands and wants to be back in the main body of the team as soon as possible. He got a new bike towards the end of last year and has just bought another off Charlie Gjedde who assures him its an Elite League bike that will have him riding Elite League standard in no time! He has however still to try it out. He has a new van for this season after his transport problems last year.

George Stancl:-

Last year was a bit of an eye opener for George. he had made no secret of his wish to go to Newcastle and the money had played a major part in that as had most of his sponsors being based in Newcastle but at the end of the season he knew he didn't want to go back to Newcastle but wanted to return to Glasgow. He was unhappy with Newcastle's track and feels Ashfield is much better and provides better opportunities for passing if you miss the start. Naturally he does have many happy memories from his previous time at Glasgow but this is a new season and he hopes to create more this year. he has one more year to race before being granted a testimonial and if he is good enough hopes to race on for another 4 or 5 years after that but if not then it will be time to go. Although the cold makes it hard to get the motivation, he has been working hard on his bikes all winter. on the rule changes, George agrees with the no 2 starting on the outside gate in the opening heat and still thinks that heat 13 will be a cracking race even though it is no longer the top two riders from each side. He is confident now about his engines, last year he had a few problems with shedding his rear chain but that is now resolved and he is raring to go.

Lee Smethills:-

Lee is hoping to settle down with one club after being a bit of a speedway nomad over the years. He was very keen to come to Glasgow as it is one of his preferred tracks - the other two being Redcar and Sheffield. Like everyone else he is keen to start the season and has been made well aware of what to expect in a derby meeting with Edinburgh. Armadale is a track that he has had intermittent form at but he is looking forward to Friday. He feels all three middle order riders can improve and that the competition between them to be third in the averages will be good for the team. On tracks, he is not particular about big or small as long as it is a decent racing circuit. he has a new GM for this season giving him 2 GM's and 2 Jawa's.

Robert Ksiezak:-

Robert felt it was a decent winter and was happy to qualify for the World U-21's due to his third place in the Aus U-21's. He reckons his round will be in Germany which means he will probably miss a meeting although that has still to be confirmed. It was a little stressful having to wait so long before being able to sign for Glasgow but he had told Edinburgh he would prefer to return so he knew he would have to wait until their team was settled. He was pretty happy that the move was made permanent thanks partly to Gordon Pairman and confirmed Gordon was looking after him and had helped him acquire a new engine for this season. He accepts it will be harder in the main body of the team but will be disappointed if he doesn't put 1-2 points on his average - he is aiming to be third heat leader this season and one of the top two next year. Shane steered him in the right direction especially on set up and how to be focused and not tinker too much last season. He's been training hard since January with Ryan (Sullivan) and Arlo (Bujega) and would have loved to have a go at doubling up but the rules don't allow it. He has invested heavily in machinery in addition to Gordon's help with a new engine and can't wait for the season to start.

David McAllan

One of the two riders who haven't raced in anger yet this season David has had a go down at Northside although the way he felt the day after reminded him of how sapping speedway is. After a winter concentrating on work he is now getting his speedway head back on and is delighted to be back at Glasgow as he regards Ashfield as one of the best tracks in the country, a Sunday track fits in with his lifestyle and he has a good rapport with the fans. It was also a very pleasant change for him to be fixed up so early and not have to worry all winter about getting a place. he is gutted to be riding at reserve but obviously is determined to get out of the reserve berth as soon as possible although with the team that Glasgow has this season it will be hard to stay out of the reserve berth at some point in the season for most of them and that can only be a good thing. David feels that the majority of teams must be in fear of our reserve pairing as they should be very strong and even if one of them does manage to move out of reserve they will be replaced by another at least equally as strong. As with everyone else he is very much looking forward to the start of the season - especially with it being at Edinburgh.

Trent Leverington:-

The first signing for 2007, Trent accepted that as we all know the loyalty shown in the Glasgow-Leverington partnership has been far greater from his side than Glasgow's but obviously bears no grudge about that. He is very happy with his deal money and sponsor wise and lives locally so has never really stopped thinking of Glasgow as home. He too will be aiming to be third in Tigers averages for 2007 and hopes to get the Armadale monkey off his back on Friday. Trent emphasised the need to win every week at home and has had a brief look at what other teams are doing including a visit down to Newcastle for their meeting last weekend but feels there is no-one to be over concerned about. His injury during the winter was a bit of a blow as he had spent money to take his equipment home to race and then was unable to - the accident itself saw him hit from behind coming off the final bend of his race, he was knocked out briefly and the damage was done to a small bone in his wrist. To give it every chance to heal properly the plaster cast was left on an extra week and the wrist shouldn't cause him any problems. On 'that' meeting for Edinburgh at the end of last season, Trent was actually winding down for his trip home so 'threw' a bike together for the meeting and joked that he has also just thrown a bike together for this Friday too.

Shane Parker:-

As has been said before, he is still here because he is enjoying it. The people are friendly and he has taken to the track because it provides a couple of good racing lines for when he misses the gate. Shane feels that this season's side is a decent one because in his opinion the key to a good team is solid and in his previous seasons we have always been top heavy. The play offs are achievable this year and if we make them hopefully they wont be as big a let down as last year. Riding at Belle Vue, a track he rates as one of his worst, earlier in the week was just a chance to iron out some problems which was why he jumped at it. he has two engines going at the moment and is waiting others back from the tuners so is all set. When asked about the possibility of riding at no 1 more often now Shane's eyes lit up and he said 'track record'! On team riding, Shane will always help a team mate if he can although in the past it has seen him drop points which does frustrate sometimes but he remembers its a team sport. - he would far rather win the league than the Pairs. He worked hard with SRA stuff last year and with Mrs Parkers help put a lot of work into the awards dinner, something he'd like to see continued and perhaps even done by BSPA in the future and/or televised by Sky. The SRA are still working hard to be heard but there is a lot of politics in sport and old school ideas to be overcome. For the last 3 seasons, his home average has been over 11 points, something he had never achieved at his previous tracks and he is looking to do the same again this season.

Alan Dick:-

Alan was quite positive and feels this years team can emulate last years with luck especially if they get the same continuity as last year. Luck was on our side last season as we were able to field the same 7 riders for most of the meetings. The volunteers have once again done well getting Ashfield ready for the start of the new season and increased awareness has helped with all 15 heats already sponsored for the season and 4 meetings sponsored. The club still needs more than 700 through the gate for a meeting to break even. fraser coming on board as main sponsor has been a big help as has the awareness work by STARs. Derek is expected to be on national radio this weekend and there will be a competition to win tickets to the speedway with quarter page adverts in the Lanarkshire 5 local newspapers. Its hoped next week will see similar in some of the Glasgow area locals. Alan was pleased with the turn out at George Square for the Press section of Press and Practice, the pictures just wouldn't be with the stadium as a background this year. On the stadium, the committee of the football club have decided not to sell at the moment as they do not have an alternative venue to go to. In addition it is believed that the company originally interested in buying the ground has gone into liquidation. Tigers currently have a lease until the end of the season and hope to extend it. Solid barriers are not up on the perimeter fencing at the third bend to minimise the effect of dust and noise to those in the new houses.