Long Day Ends In Defeat
(Posted 10/08/08)

On a long afternoon that possibly covered everything, Sheffield won a last heat decider to take the points back down south although there were plenty of talking points from a meeting that took 3 ½ hours from start to finish.

It looked as if Glasgow was escaping the worst of the weather and indeed the track was being watered as the crowd started to arrive but just before the start the heavens opened and although the track coped well with what fell on it, the result was the first few heats provided not so much speedway as riding from the gate..

Ashworth was the rider who gated in the opening heat and stayed clean whilst Dicken Parsons and Stonehewer followed in that order, well spread and with limited visibility through the muck.

Mitchell Davey made an excellent gate in heat 2 and Josh Grajczonek quickly joined him passing inside Smith on the opening bend.  Smith however lost control on bend 2 and did a 360 degree turn.  With the Tigers on a 5-1 he made no attempt to get off track, the race was stopped and Smith excluded from the rerun.  After a delay for another passing shower, Mitchell and Josh both got clean away from the gate and secured the 5-1.

The next two heats were again well spread out affairs from the gate, Sheffield getting a 5-1 in a re-run heat 3 after Robert came down in first bend bunching and Josh winning a shared heat 4 with Trent not that far off Ben Wilson at the back  but unable to see a safe route through.

A re run was also required after first bend bunching in heat 5, this time Parsons being the unlucky rider hitting the deck, and although the re run saw a heat advantage for the away team again from the gate, there were signs that the track was improving and that it was now becoming raceable.

It didn’t stop Stonehewer and Dicken recording a 5-1 from the tapes in heat 6 however although a lot of that was down to terrible starts from both Sheffield riders rather than track conditions.  Kyle Hughes in particular tried to anticipate the start and paid the price, Carl and Lee took full advantage and quickly pulled clear, Lee claiming the win after passing outside Stoney on bend 2.

Andre Compton had looked very quick from the gate in his opening heat and he repeated the feat in heat 7, soon opening up a decent gap.  Paul Cooper on the other hand had to do it the hard way, coming from the back but slipped sweetly through the inside of the Glasgow pairing on bend two to follow his captain home.  Trent and Mitchell seemed to get in each others road a little in the early stages and Trent nearly wiped his partner out accidentally on the pits bend of lap two before coming inside him at the end of lap 3 when Mitchell drifted wide.  Both Sheffield riders were however well clear by then.

The first major incident of the afternoon came prior to heat 8 and out of sight of the majority of the crowd.  The machine examiner had previously pointed out a missing chain guard on Joel Parsons bike, making it illegal and dangerous.  However his pit crew elected not to repair it and with the rider already looking as if he was missing the 2 minutes time allowance with the ‘less than 30 seconds remaining’ warning having gone out 20 seconds previously, Joel Parsons jumped on his bike and attempted to ride the bike out of the pits at speed.  The machine examiner attempted to stop him and all hell broke loose as Parsons jumped off his bike and started throwing punches at the machine examiner.  Parsons was restrained by a number of the pits staff before Danny pulled him clear of the fracas, still restraining him.  The referee was called to the pits and after sorting things out in the pits to his satisfaction, Parsons was inexplicably allowed back in the heat and all four riders were put on 2 minutes.

When the tapes went up, Josh made the start but Parsons was quickly round him on the outside line of the opening bends.  Josh and Lee both gave chase but Lee clipped his partners rear wheel going into the third bend and dispatched himself heavily into the fence, ending up with suspected broken fingers and an exclusion for his trouble.

In the re run it looked as if things were going from bad to worse for Glasgow when Josh missed the gate. However Scott Smith inexplicably took his partner Joel Parsons very wide to the fence on the pits bend, obviously thinking it was Josh.  Josh meantime let them get on with their battle and slipped through the inside opening up an unassailable lead very quickly.  Smith continued his bizarre behaviour in this heat by slowing down rather than give chase to Josh and pulling wide on the final bend of the opening lap to allow partner Parsons through into second.  Its fair to say the cheer for Smith at the end of the race almost matched those for Josh!

Josh was looking very quick and team manager Stewart Dickson elected to bring him out again in heat 9 in place of Anders Andersen. Robert and Josh easily dispatched a disappointingly poor Ben Wilson and Kyle Hughes to bring Glasgow back on to level terms.

It did not last long however.  Carl Stonehewer reared badly off the gate and Mitchell, in for Lee Dicken,  also struggled leaving the impressive pair of Compton and Cooper a free run into the opening bends which they made full use of.  Stonehewer did chase Cooper but in all honesty never really threatened.

Unfortunately the next talking point was to be an horrendous high speed crash in heat 11 involving Ricky Ashworth and Trent Leverington.

It looked as if it had the making of an excellent race.  Mitchell Davey made an electric gate and led but Ricky Ashworth and Trent Leverington were side by side coming out of the second bend and full out racing.  Unfortunately as they went down the back straight their two bikes hooked up. It was inevitable what was going to happen, the riders looked as if they were trying to prise themselves apart but couldn’t and went high speed into the safety fence demolishing around 30 feet of it. Ricky Ashworth was first to the ambulance with what has since been a broken wrist.  Trent had taken the full force of the accident and after careful attention was transferred to a back board and taken to the ambulance before being transferred to hospital for a thorough check.  Remarkably he got away with heavy bruising and a sore neck.  With his helmet being split up the back by the force of impact there was much discussion on the terraces as to just how effective it seemed Trent’s Leatt neck brace had been and a lot of relief that the injuries were so comparatively light for the seriousness of the accident.

Many felt that the meeting would have to be abandoned due to the extensive damage to the safety fence and the looming curfew but a gargantuan effort from the track staff rebuilt the fence and after a delay of 45 minutes we were ready for racing again.  With the original race past bend two, the referee chose to excluded Ricky Ashworth for the accident despite no one really being at fault.  Josh Grajczonek came in for Trent Leverington.  After a false start due to a tapes malfunction, Josh made the gate, partner Mitchell Davey came round the outside of him on the opening bends and Josh tucked in behind him.  Joel Parsons pressured them for most of the race but the young Queenslanders held firm for the 5-1 that drew the Tigers level again.

Mitchell came in for Josh in heat 12 and had to work hard to hold off the attention of Kyle Hughes for third place.  The race was won by the fast gating Compton.  Josh was back out again in heat 13, taking Trent’s place.  Although Scott Smith made the gate Josh swept round the outside of him coming out of bend two and went on to claim the win.  Unfortunately at the rear Ben Wilson cut inside Stonehewer on the second bend to claim third place and although Stonehewer remained close for all four laps he was unable to pass.

Some of the best racing of the meeting came in heat 14 although it came from an away rider.  Anders Andersen gated along side Josh, out for his seventh ride.  Not for the first time in the meeting Josh elected to slot in behind his partner coming out of bend two and try and protect him, something he managed to do for two laps before Paul Cooper managed to squeeze round the outside on bend four.  Anders tried hard to hold the Sheffield rider off but had no answer to the excellent outside sweep coming of bend two of the final lap, Cooper going on to claim a thoroughly deserved heat win.

Glasgow were left going into heat 15 with only three riders to chose from and facing two undefeated Sheffield men in Compton and Cooper.  The task went to Carl Stonehewer and Robert Ksiezak.  Compton yet again was unbeatable from the gate and went on to claim his maximum.  Robert was not far behind and particularly in the early stages gave chase without ever really threatening. However with Paul Cooper passing outside Stonehewer coming out of the second bend and holding position, Sheffield took the heat advantage and the meeting.

It was certainly a long day, the track in the early stages only being ridable rather than raceable.  The plus points for the Tigers were the performances of both reserves obviously with Josh being outstanding and being so close to that 21 point paid maximum. Obviously down points were the injuries to Lee Ricky and Trent.  Special mention must also go to the track staff however for the way they managed to repair the fence against the odds to allow the meeting to come to a conclusion.

Any remote chance of qualifying for the Young Shield now looks to be out of reach but there us still pride to ride for although there is the worry that next weeks team will have a very makeshift look about it given the current injury list.

 

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Glasgow Tigers speedway - posted on glasgow speedway dot com, an unofficial glasgow tigers speedway website.