Tigers Secure First PL Points
(Posted 12/05/08)

Glasgow finally got their first Premier League win of the season at Ashfield as they overcame the Isle of Wight, ending Tigers run of home defeats at the same time.

The meeting started in the way the majority of home meetings have started this year however – with a 1-5 in favour of the visitors.  Jason Bunyan, in as rider replacement, and Cory Gathercole won comfortably from the gate.

Ross Brady had taken Glasgow’s rider replacement ride in heat 1 and used the experience to his advantage.  He made an electric gate in heat 2 and won the heat comfortably.  Gary Beaton had gated well and managed to come out of bend 2 ahead of the Islanders pairing, despite it looking as if Holder had got the early advantage. Gary then worked hard for all four laps to hold off Holder’s challenge with Bargh not far behind and he got a well deserved ovation from the crowd for his efforts.

A re-run was required in heat 3 after Phillips slid off on the opening bends on the first time of asking.  Carl Stonehewer made the gate and won easily.  Phillips again had problems on the opening bend, locking up and accidentally hampering Dicken as he did so.  Lee was sent to the back briefly but passed Phillips coming out of bend 2.  He then chased after Tero Aarnio, coming very close to passing at the end of the third lap but Aarnio managed to hold on for second place.

Tigers pair Ksiezak and Brady gated in heat 4 with Robert on the outside line pulling significantly clear coming out of bend 2.  Ross in the meantime fought hard to hold off Jason Bunyan and James Holder, managing to hold them at bay until coming into the back straight of the fourth lap when Bunyan managed to squeeze round the outside of both his partner and Brady into second place. Bunyan then gave chase to Ksiezak and was able to pass, perhaps a little cheaply, round the outside on the fourth bend and claim the win.

The first running of heat 5 saw Gathercole flip his bike, and although he quickly made an attempt to clear the track the referee had already put the red lights on. Stonehewer was first out of the gate in the re-run with Lee Dicken at the back but somehow in the mix of the opening bends they managed to swap places.  Stonehewer showed exactly why he is such a popular visitor to Ashfield by refusing to give up, tailing Aarnio for three laps before squeezing through the narrowest of gaps on the backstraight at the end of lap 3 to give Tigers their second 5-1 of the afternoon.

The impressive Jason Bunyan won a well spread out heat 6 from the gate, Brady and Leverington  filling the minor placing's.  It was followed by a heat advantage for the Islanders in another well spread heat thanks to an inside pass by Aarnio on Ksiezak coming out of bend two.

Ksiezak and Brady again gated well in heat 8, Brady in front of his team mate out of bend two.  Gathercole made a slightly wild attempt to pass Ksiezak at the end of the opening lap, running very close to the fence and doing well to avoid the safety fence at the last minute.  It cost him his pace however and the Tigers third 5-1 of the meeting was easily achieved.

By now, it was getting very dusty but for some reason the track was not watered and the second half of the meeting was watched through half shut eyes.

Although there was no passing, heat 9 saw a good race between Bunyan and Stonehewer.  In the end the difference could possibly be put down to gating, Bunyan made the gate and held Stoney off, but it certainly was not for lack of effort on Stonehewer’s part and the crowd were treated to two riders, for much of the race in very close proximity, racing flat out.  With Dicken claiming an easy third place the heat was shared.

It was followed by a well spread out and shared heat 10, Trent Leverington claiming the win.

Cory Gathercole had been plagued by clutch problems in the early part of the meeting but seemed to have sorted these out as he was a different rider in heat 11. On the outside line, he got the better of Robert Ksiezak on a tough opening bend and went on to win another spread heat comfortably with his team mate Glen Phillips making it a heat advantage claiming third place well ahead of Gary Beaton.

There was no question of playing to keep the gap down to prevent the Islanders from using a tactical when Stonehewer and Brady easily recorded a 5-1 from the gate in  heat 12.

As expected, an Islander came out in black and white in heat 13 but its fair to say it wasn’t the rider most expected.  Jason Bunyan was programmed to race in the heat and had been flying all afternoon but the Islanders team manager elected to bring out Cory Gathercole, in as rider replacement, as the tactical rider.  He was to be proved a lot more astute than the fans as Gathercole shot from the gate to go on and win the heat.  Bunyan meantime was stuck at the back and it looked as if he would fail to score for the first time in the meeting.  He never gave up though and on the final lap he slipped cleverly passed Robert Ksiezak to claim third place and keep the Islanders slim hopes alive.

The first running of heat 14 saw Islanders reserve James Holder slide off on his own on the opening bend.  He obviously felt he would get an all four back call but the referee disagreed. The second running of the heat saw the red lights come on again.  As with the first running, Ross Brady was very determined and gave no quarter to Tero Aarnio in tough opening bend exchanges.  As a result, the Islanders guest was pushed wide and in turn he left Lee Dicken nowhere to go, the referee correctly calling all three back.  Unfortunately, Lee’s bike was damaged in the exchange and when he came out for the second re-run he was down on power and unable to challenge Aarnio.  Brady once again refused to give any quarter on the opening bends and was rewarded by coming out of bend two ahead, quickly opening up a comfortable lead and going on to win the heat and the meeting for Glasgow.

It looked as though the Islanders were not prepared to let Glasgow have it all their own way however, Bunyan and Aarnio coming out of bend two of heat 15 on a 1-5.  Stonehewer managed to get the better of Jason Bunyan on the back straight of lap 2 to split the Islanders pair and went off in pursuit of Tero Aarnio.  A lap later, Bunyan's race came to an end as he suffered an engine failure coming into the back straight whilst in third place.  Meantime, Stonehewer had chased down Aarnio and for the second time in the meeting squeezed through the narrowest of gaps on his outside as they went down the home straight on lap 3 to conclude the meeting with another heat advantage.

There was definitely a renewed vigour about the Tigers side this afternoon and a significant improvement in gating, heat one excepted.  Ross Brady was undoubtedly a match winner with an excellent display but the other members of the team all contributed and guest Carl Stonehewer was an excellent choice and, as always at Ashfield, value for money.

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