Glasgow Win Battle of the Tigers
(Posted 20/07/08)

In a rather uneventful meeting, Glasgow stuck to their task and comfortably saw off the Fen Tigers at Ashfield this afternoon.

Many saw the meeting as a chance for the Tigers to build up some confidence as well as a decent win against a Mildenhall side who have been struggling all season to field a competitive team and to a great extent that is how the meeting turned out.

The opening heat saw Lee Dicken and Carl Stonehewer secure a completely unchallenged 5-1 from the tapes, Ricky Ashworth surprisingly trailing in at the rear.

It looked as if this was to be repeated in heat 2 despite Josh Grajczonek missing the gate. Mitchell had made an excellent start and soon built up a comfortable lead with Josh quickly making amends and coming out of bend two in second place. However with Mitchell well ahead, he hit a bump coming out of the third bend on lap three which saw him slide off and allowed everyone else through before he could remount. Josh hit the same bump on the final lap but managed to recover and stay on for the win. The 5-1 was gone however and Glasgow had to settle for a share of the spoils.

Michal Rajkowski showed excellent gating skills in heat 3 but Trent Leverington superbly moved him over on the opening bends, cutting inside him to take the lead and giving Anders Andersen the opportunity to cut through the inside into second place. Trent quickly pulled clear but Anders had to hold off the challenge of Rajkowski for the remainder of the heat.

The Mildenhall pairing of Graversen and Wright showed that they had no intention of succumbing early by outgating Ksiezak and Grajczonek in heat 4. Robert managed to pass round the outside of Wright on the backstraight whilst Josh passed inside him on bend three. However, Graversen was already well gone and the heat was shared.

Although Ashworth made the gate in heat 5, Trent Leverington and Anders Andersen produced almost a carbon copy of their heat 3 opening bends with Trent superbly moving Ashworth wide before coming inside him into the lead whilst leaving the gap for Anders to come through into second place. Once again Anders had to work very hard for the entire race to hold off Ashworth's challenge and give the Tigers their third 5-1 of the afternoon.

Graversen led briefly from the gate in heat 6 but Carl Stonehewer got the better of him on the outside of the second bend. Lee Dicken gave chase on Graversen but there appeared to be a lack of passing lines, Lee certainly was unable to find one and had to settle for third place.

Ashworth found his gating shoes in heat 7 and won from the tapes with the Glasgow pairing filling the minor placings. Mitchell Davey did have to work hard to hold off pressure from Michal Rajkowski but was equal to the task.

When Marek Mroz made the gate in heat 8, it fell to Josh Grajczonek to emulate Trent's earlier moves by moving Mroz wide, coming through into the lead and leaving enough room on the inside for partner Lee Dicken to follow through. the Tigers pairing then went on to win by a considerable margin.

It didn't quite work for the Tigers in heat 9 however. The Mildenhall pairing once again outgated the home riders, Trent slipped past McKinna and moved Graversen wide but although Anders passed inside McKinna on the second bend he just could not quite manage to get passed Graversen. The heat was quickly well spread and finished a 4-2 for the home side.

Rajkowski won heat 10 from the gate, Lee Dicken passed inside Marek Mroz coming out of bend 2 whilst Stonehewer passed inside Mroz on bend 3 to share the spoils. The only real action in the heat was perhaps when Lee and Stoney had a bit of a misunderstanding and both appeared to go for the same bit track at the end of the third lap but they quickly sorted it out and the spoils were shared.

Ricky Ashworth had looked a different rider in his third ride from the one who struggled in his opening two and Mildenhall Team manager Laurence Rodgers therefore took the opportunity to bring him out as a TR in heat 11 against arguably Glasgow's weakest pairing on the afternoon. His faith in his guest was repaid when Ashworth won from the gate and the visitors were given an additional boost when Robert Ksiezak, in second place slid off on the final bends allowing Marek Mroz through to claim second place and inflict a heavy 1-8 on the home side.

In a meeting that was providing very little excitement, Michal Rajkowski and Anders Andersen not only gated together but rode side by side for almost a lap out front before Rajkowski, on the outside line, found some extra grip on the fourth bend that allowed him to pull clear. Both Anders and Josh gave chase, Anders coming close on a couple of occasions to catching the Fen Tiger, but Rajkowski pulled away on the final lap to secure the heat win.

Carl Stonehewer badly missed the gate in heat 13 but passed inside Graversen coming out of bend 2. The heat was very quickly well spread and mundane though, Ashworth claiming the victory with Ksiezak in second place.

Mitchell Davey made a superb gate in heat 14, quickly followed by Trent Leverington and even coming out of bend two the Tigers pairing had already opened up a gap. However going into the third bend, Mildenhall's Michal Rajkowski lost control and took a very heavy tumble into the safety fence, demolishing easily 12 feet of kickboards. After lengthy treatment and an ambulance ride back to the pits, Rajkowski was able to walk back to his pits area with the recommendation from the medical staff that he go for a precautionary x-ray on his injured wrist. We hope that the results will prove negative and wish him a speedy recovery.

Obviously he was excluded from the re-run which was to provide another minor talking point. Once again the Glasgow pairing gated. As the riders came out of bend two, there was a pop from Matthew Wrights bike and as the home pairing disappeared off into the distance, Wright battled valiantly to keep his bike running, nursing it round four laps and only just avoiding being lapped.

However referee Jim McGregor did not appear to appreciate Wrights determination but instead excluded him for not making a bona fide attempt to race and awarding the race as a 5-0 to Glasgow. It seemed a very harsh decision on the Mildenhall reserve, especially given the stage of the meeting and scoreline and it was a decision that certainly incensed team manager Laurence Rodgers but his appeals fell on deaf ears.

Trent Leverington had been outstanding all afternoon and went into heat 15 looking for his maximum. However Ricky Ashworth, who had improved as the afternoon went on, was to thwart that with a win from the gate despite Trent chasing him all the way. Anders Andersen finished in third place ahead of Jan Graversen to end the meeting with a shared heat.

It certainly will not go down as one of the more entertaining meetings of the year with almost no genuine overtaking after the opening bends and a number of well spread out heats. However it was very important for Glasgow to take the expected win and build on their confidence and they certainly achieved that. Trent was once more outstanding and the whole stadium must have been willing him to get the maximum but if he continues to ride like that his day will come.

Mildenhall's problems are there for all to see and it is sad to see a fellow club struggle. Glasgow will definitely have a harder task next week when Reading come calling.

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