Rebels Crush Tigers
(Posted 14/06/08)

Tigers slumped to another heavy defeat on the road at Somerset but played their part in an entertaining meeting after a poor start.

Poor is perhaps an understatement, with Tigers loosing the opening three heats by 5-1.  In each, it was a case of gating being the major factor.  Glasgow’s riders just could not get out of the gate and were coming out of the opening bends considerably down on the home riders.

Robert Ksiezak stopped the trend in heat 4 when he showed his team mates how it was done, not only making the gate but riding a determined couple of opening bends to come into the back straight ahead.  He was challenged all the way by Frampton but never looked in any real danger and claimed the Tigers first – and was to prove to be their only - heat win of the evening.

Heat 5 was delayed for repairs to the air fence after a classic case of first bend bunching saw Watson and Kroger tangle, ending up in the fence.  It was a heat that was worth waiting for.  Dicken gated and was joined at the front by Watson as they came out of the second bend.  The two Tigers worked hard to team ride to hold off the opposition and it looked until the final lap as if they were going to be successful.  Kroger pulled alongside Lee Dicken on the back straight for the final lap but Lee looked to have fended him off as they entered the penultimate bend.  However, Kroger found drive on the inside and powered past both Tigers riders on the final bend to win the heat.

Robert Ksiezak again gated well in heat 6 but was unfortunately passed by Stefan Katt coming out of bend 2.  Robert was not for giving up and spent the entire race challenging Katt whilst in the latter stages also having to keep Werner at bay but for all his efforts he had to be content with second place.

It was back to being completely out gated in heat 7, the Somerset pairing winning easily from the gate.  Sadly the score line was to be repeated in heat 8 despite Lee Dicken trapping, both Rebels passing either side of him on the opening bends and pulling well clear.

It was down to Robert again to try and restore some pride for the Tigers in heat 9 and once again he made the gate but only slightly ahead of the Somerset pairing.  Both Kramer and Kroger challenged hard coming out of bend two, Kroger managing to come through in to the lead although Robert did well to baulk Kramer’s attempts to get by and hold on to second place.

Jason Doyle won heat 10 easily for the home side but the action was all for the minor placing's between Leverington and Katt.  Both riders were effectively wheel to wheel for an exciting four laps with no quarter given by either with Trent just edging it at the flag to claim the second place.

Although the result was already a foregone conclusion, Tigers chose to bring out Craig Watson on a tactical ride in heat 11.  He was out gated by Jordan Frampton however and was unable to mount any significant challenge.  Lee Dicken had slotted in just behind Watson for third place and looked in no danger from Simon Walker who strangely came off on his own at the rear on lap two.  There was slight consternation at the end of the heat when it was announced as a 3-3 but that was quickly rectified and Tigers had their only heat advantage of the night.

Riding in his first meeting for the Tigers, Anders Andersen hit the front with a wide sweep round the outside of the second bend of heat 12 despite having made a poor gate.  The fans were then treated to four laps of nip and tuck between Anders and Emil Kramer.  Kramer’s experience led to him timing his final challenge of the last bend to perfection however and he just pipped Andersen on the line to claim the win.  At the back, Davey and Werner were not to be outdone and were having an entertaining battle of their own.  Mitchell had got ahead of Werner off bend two and worked very hard for all four laps to hold him at bay and claim third place.

The entertainment continued in heat 13 with Watson and Frampton battling close out front.  Watson had gated slightly ahead but the two were soon side by side and it was nip and tuck until the third lap when out of nowhere Jason Doyle swooped past them both as if they weren’t there with a superb pass. Watson tried to hit back but there was to be no stopping the Rebels no 1.

After a spell of being competitive, Tigers once again failed to make the gate in heat 14 and paid the price with the home side recording yet another 5-1. The home side finished the meeting off with another 5-1 in heat 15 although this time they were aided and abetted by Craig Watson falling on the second lap whilst lying in second place.

Although from a Tigers perspective it was a poor night and quite a thumping, interestingly from the point of view of the neutral who provided the details for this report it was a good meeting.  Tigers were certainly extremely poor out of the gate but on many occasions they did make the home side work very hard for their points apparently and played their part in an entertaining meeting.  Somehow I can’t help feeling however that he is trying to be kind about what is yet another hefty away defeat.

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