Rain Wins, Speedway Loses
(Posted 09/08/08)

The Workington promotion were not the most popular amongst home or away fans this evening after a meeting which just ran long enough for rain off tickets to be void.

The anger of many was because of the timing of the call off with many feeling that the meeting should never have started in the first place.

It was clear before the scheduled start time of 7pm that there was dissent among the riders and doubts about the track. The turn styles were late in opening and it was announced that the start would be delayed 30 minutes to allow remedial track work to be done which included scraping off the top surface.

Even as the referee tried to call the meeting to tapes for the opening heat it was clear there were still concerns over the safety of the track with the two minutes being cancelled and a further meeting with the riders on track.

With rain all around, most felt that the meeting would not get underway, especially given the delay that there had already been but to everyone's surprise the meeting did finally get underway some 45 minutes late.

The opening heat saw what was to be the only pass of the evening when Tigers guest Ricky Ashworth tried the outside line on the last bend of the opening lap and Comets guest Topinka took advantage to pass on the inside into 1st. With Dicken gating at the rear, Taylor took third place and the home side had a heat advantage

Tigers drew level in heat 2 with Mitchell Davey making the gate to win. Wright gated second from the gate whilst Josh and John Branney gated alongside each other but Josh got the advantage on the opening bends thanks to tenacious riding.

All races from here on in were basically gating competitions, Tigers loosing a 5-1 in heat 5 after two shared heats but clawing their way back into it courtesy of a shared heat in 6 and a heat advantage in 7.

Mitchell Davey came in for Lee Dicken in heat 8 and he and Josh hit the front and comfortably recorded the 5-1 to put the Tigers two points up before the heavens opened and the meeting was abandoned after further consultation with the riders.

The current cut off point for the use of rain off tickets is 8 heats.

The conditions were not conducive to speedway and in all honesty the meeting should never have started. However credit should be given to the riders who went out there in those conditions and gave it their best shot and did so safely in spite of the conditions. Obviously for Tigers special mention has to go to Mitchell Davey and Josh Grajczonek who stood out but all seven deserve credit.

It is a shame however that the major talking point from Derwent Park is not racing but the feeling that many fans on the terraces felt cheated by tonight's events.

It is believed that the intention is to re-run this meeting on the 30th August although that date has still to be confirmed

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