Glasgow v Sheffield Abandoned
(Posted 01/06/08)

Anders Andersen will have to wait a little longer to make his Tigers riding debut after rain put paid to today's meetings after only two heats.

Up until 1pm, the weather had been fine but it clouded over and the first shower came just before 2. Shortly after, the rain came on for the day. The track itself did not look too bad initially and with the rain relatively light a decision was made at 4.15 to start the meeting.

It may have only lasted 2 heats but there was certainly a few talking points in those two heats.

William Lawson showed right from the start that he had no intention of getting too dirty by blasting out of the opening bends ahead and opening up an incredibly impressive lead within one lap. Lee Dicken, in as rider replacement, had not gated particularly well but forced his way through to second place in a hard opening bend with Ricky Ashworth. the heat was soon well spread and Tigers looked set for a 5-1 until Lee Dicken slid off on the pits bend of lap 3.

At that stage, Parsons had effectively given up at the rear - he certainly was not paying attention to what had happened as he coasted round. Ashworth was able to cleanly pass on the inside of Dicken who remounted, bump started his bike unaided and then continued, still ahead of Parsons who was by now in danger of being lapped by Lawson.

The referee decided as Lee got going again to put the red lights on, a decision that baffled the Tigers fans and annoyed the skipper who had a lengthy conversation with the referee on the pits phone about it shortly afterwards.

The decision stood however and the race was awarded although it would have been very interesting to see what Lawson's time was, he was certainly quick for the conditions.

Heat 2 was to require a re-run, Adam McKinna being too keen and breaking the tapes. He went off 15m. and did well to catch up with Ben Hopwood relatively quickly. Hopwood struggled with bend four on lap two and McKinna took full advantage to cleanly pass up the inside into third. Out front, Lee Smethills had gated but was not having it all his own way with Mitchell Davey chasing him hard for all four laps.

Newcomer Anders was keen and quickly out for heat 3 but with Andre Compton crossing the pits behind him to go to the pits phone it was clear that there was at least going to be a delay. Anders was called back into the pits and the referee made his way down for a track inspection and chat with the team captains.

At that stage, the conditions were perhaps slightly better than they had been for the opening two heats but rain was still falling. The decision was made to reconsider in 15 minutes but as the persistent rain got heavier there was always only going to be one outcome and the meeting was quite correctly called off.

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