Home Win for Tigers
(Posted 13/07/08)

After a break of almost a month, Tigers finally got back to action at Ashfield and recorded their biggest home win of the season so far.

After a break of almost a month, Tigers finally got back to action at Ashfield and recorded their biggest home win of the season so far.

Before the action even got underway, there was good news for the Tigers with promising young Dane Peter Juul signing on for 2009 (see separate story) and the feel good factor certainly carried on into the opening heats.

Stonehewer and Dicken both gated in the opening heat and looked well in control as they went on to open the meeting with a 5-1 for the home side and although Ekberg did give chase he  never really threatened.

It was almost a repeat performance in heat 2 with Josh and Mitchell making excellent gates and Josh was soon well clear.  Mitchell did have a slight wobble at the start of the second lap which allowed Rye’s Luke Bowen to catch him up but although Bowen pressured him hard for the remainder of the race, Mitchell held on for another 5-1.

The initial running of heat 3 saw Woffinden at  the front with Trent Leverington settling in behind him.  Anders Andersen held third place ahead of Tommy Allen but a rash move by Allen on the third bend saw him collect Anders, both riders finishing up against the fence and needing treatment.  Unfortunately for Allen, although walking wounded his injuries were enough to see him have to withdraw from the remainder of the meeting and we wish him a speedy recovery.

Anders, though clearly still suffering the effects of the fall, took his place in the re run but it was to be a relatively uneventful heat, Woffinden winning comfortably from the tapes.

Josh Grajczonek made the gate in heat 4 but Chris Neath used the dirt round the outside of the opening bends to power past him into the lead.  Josh gave chase, but had to settle for 2nd place.  At the rear, Robert Ksiezak seemed to have problems with the second bend, came out far too wide and may even have clipped the fence.  It was enough to leave him marooned at the back of the field and the visitors had their first heat advantage of the afternoon.

Trent Leverington made an excellent start in heat 5 and was untroubled for the entire race. There was a very tight opening bend between Stefan Ekberg and Anders Andersen with Anders coming out on top out of the second bend, a position he was not going to give up even with Ekberg chasing all the way.

The Tigers excellent start to the meeting continued in heat 6 with another 5-1 courtesy of Stonehewer and Dicken.  Stoney came out of bend 2 ahead and looked on the inside for his partner but Lee was passing outside him at the time!  After a quick double take, Stoney settled in behind Lee to protect him from the attentions of Neath.

In some ways heat 7, although bringing Rye right back into the meeting, gave the Tigers a bit of a break at the same time.  Rather than put Woffinden off 15m in ht 8 and use Neath as a TR from the gate in ht 9, Rye elected to put Woffinden out as a TR in heat 7.  He duly won the race and with Luke Bowen passing inside Mitchell Davey on the third bend of the opening lap, the visitors recorded a 2-7 to cut the deficit to 9 points.

Heat 8 required two attempts to run it, Luke Bowen rolling at the start and being publicly warned but then doing exactly the same in the re run and getting away with it.  As a result he won the heat despite Lee Dicken trying everything he could muster to try and find a way through.  With Josh Grajczonek claiming a comfortable third place the heat was shared.

Andersen challenged Neath on the opening bends of heat 9, nearly coming up inside him but Neath held firm.  Towards the end of the lap, Trent came though into second place, accidentally impeding his team mate whilst doing so.  Anders worked hard for the remainder of the race to hold off Daniel Halsey for third place whilst Trent tried very hard to make amends by chasing Neath but to no avail.

It was clear at the end of the race that Anders was struggling with a shoulder injury, he was checked over again by the doctor in the break between two heats.

When racing resumed it was the visitors who were to deliver a bit of a blow to Glasgow’s hopes with what was to be their only 1-5 of the afternoon.  Woffinden again hit the front but a good gate from Bowen saw him slot into second place.  Once again, Lee Dicken was all over the back of Bowen looking for a way through but to no avail with Stoney just behind him.

Robert Ksiezak made his only gate of the afternoon in heat 11 ahead of Stefan Ekberg.  Ekberg took the inside line coming out of the final bend of the opening lap,  he pulled level with Robert as they crossed the line before powering through the inside, easing Robert wide on the opening bend of lap 2 and taking over the lead.  At the rear, there was another battle going on between Mitchell Davey and Robert Mear but this time it was the Glasgow rider who came out on top, Mitchell working hard to hold off the challenge in an encouraging manner.

That man Woffinden won from the gate again in heat 12 and although Josh Grajczonek in second briefly gave chase it was a well spread out and shared heat.

Heat 13 was always going to be crucial and all four riders were level going into the opening bend.  Stonehewer came out ahead of Ekberg despite a decent attempt by the latter to move Stoney wide.  Although Robert was third, it was a position he only held for a lap with Neath passing surprisingly easily round the outside of Robert on the second lap pits bend.

With things still tight, Leverington and Grajczonek both made excellent gates in heat 14.  Trent was quickly clear and although Halsey challenged Josh in the early stages, he too soon opened up a comfortable gap and the resultant 5-1 ensured victory for the home side.

In all honesty, most expected Tai Woffinden to come out in heat 15 and complete his maximum but the Tigers had other ideas.  Trent made the best gate and was followed by team mate Stonehewer with Woffinden surprisingly relegated to third. The young Brit was not going to give up however.  He took the inside line coming out of the final bend of the opening lap, drove hard up the inside of Stonehewer on the opening bend of lap two in what was an excellent hard but fair move, pushing Stonehewer wide enough to allow Woffinden to come through into second.  He then gave chase and tried a similar move on Trent a lap later but Trent blocked the move cleverly and held off Woffinden for the remainder of the race to claim an excellent heat win.

Overall it was a highly satisfactory day for the Tigers with all bar Robert performing well.  Robert will be the first to admit he himself had an off day but he is still trying to get a new engine bedded in.  Trent’s performance was excellent but there were positives all round.  Mitchell may not have scored a lot of points but he worked hard for those he got and was not affected by pressure in the way he has been in the past.  Stoney is Stoney and was once again a very welcome guest.  Lee seemed to be quite a bit quicker and Anders scored well despite the heavy fall in his opening heat.  Josh once again looked stylish and comfortable on the bike and his score was once again impressive.

Woffinden and to a lesser extent Bowen were the main players for the visitors with Chris Neath again up and down.  It was good to see Stefan Ekberg back at Ashfield but although he never gives up he does not look fully recovered yet from his recent injury and we can’t help but feel Rye’s use of the TR worked as much to Glasgow’s advantage as it did to Rye’s.

Tigers fully deserved their win and it can only have raised team confidence ahead of next weeks home meeting against Mildenhall

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