Tigers Denied Victory
(Posted 06/10/08)

A cruel finish denied Glasgow the chance of finally beating their closest rivals this season with a rare engine failure and a crash which has left Robert Ksiezak nursing a broken collarbone giving the visitors victory.

Glasgow were definitely up for it. The opening heat saw Monarchs guest Tomas Piszcz gate but Shane Parker swept round the outside on the opening bends into the lead. Lee Dicken cut inside Piszcz on the third bend to come through into second place and although Piszcz pressured hard for two laps Lee held firm, pulling clear on lap three to give the Tigers a dream 5-1 start.

The first of a few re-runs for riders jumping the tapes came in heat 2, Summers being the guilty party but in the re-run his partner Sneddon made the gate. Mitchell Davey looked sharp and was on hand to take full advantage of an error by Sneddon to pass inside him coming out of bend two and was never going to be caught. Unfortunately Anders had bike troubles and retired on lap three whilst off the pace at the back.

Ryan Fisher was the guilty party for jumping the tapes in heat 3 but the rerun saw Fisher and partner Tully get clean away. Tully locked up on the apex of the opening bends, Peter shut off to avoid him and unfortunately lost control and hit the deck. He was praised after the race for clearing the track to allow the race to continue, Fisher winning easily with Ksiezak in second place.

With Anders still presumably having bike problems, Mitchell Davey came out alongside Trent Leverington and after a reasonable gate rode a very good opening couple of bends to make sure he came out in front of the Monarchs pair and pull clear. The action was at the back with Leverington missing the gate trying to find a way passed Aaron Summers but failing.

Heat five was a sore one for the home side, Fisher and Piszcz both making electric gates and recording a very easy 5-1 for the visitors.

Shane Parker hit the front in heat 6 and was well ahead with Dicken and Wethers doing battle behind. Dicken pulled level on the outside of Wethers going down the backstraight but Wethers held going into the third bend. Lee then switched line, powering up the inside of Wethers coming down the home straight. Wethers kept too much power on, failing to turn in time at the end of the straight and slid off into the fence earning himself an exclusion. The three remaining riders had to do it all again with Sneddon getting the drop from the gate but quickly being passed by Parker, who then worked a gap for Dicken to come through on the inside of bend 2 but Lee was unable to take advantage. Lee gave chase and cut inside Sneddon on the third bend only for Sneddon to hit straight back entering the home straight passing down the outside. Dicken tried the same move on lap two but Sneddon was quick to block it but on the third lap it was third time lucky for Lee. He came inside on the third bend and managed to ease Sneddon wide then powered away out of bend four for another Tigers 5-1.

Ryan Fisher and Andrew Tully had a coming together on the opening bends of heat 7 which saw Tully hit the deck, the trainee referee rightly inviting all four back. Trent had gated well in the initial running but both he and Mitchell were left for dead by the fast gating Monarchs pairing in the re-run, Edinburgh recording a very easy heat maximum.

With his bike problems apparently fixed, Anders Andersen made a good gate in heat 8 but Piszcz edged his way through into the lead on the opening bends. Anders stayed very close and when Piszcz made the error of going wide on the fourth bend Anders passed sweetly inside him and went on to claim the victory. Dicken was left at the rear and although he challenged Summers and looked quicker he was unable to get through.

Ksiezak and Wethers gated in heat 9 but a superb cut inside by Peter Juul saw him go from third to first off bend two whilst Sneddon slid off on is own at the back. It was almost scary at times watching Robert and Peter team ride out front for the remainder of the race but in the end they won it quite comfortably, Robert pulling ahead of Peter off the final bend to claim the win.

Heat 10 certainly did go down too well with the home fans. The first running saw Fisher warned again for jumping the start and the Tigers fans and riders felt that he was even worse in the re run. The referee however disagreed and let it go and although Shane made up ground on the American he was unable to mount a realistic challenge. Lee Dicken got the better of Aaron Summers on the third bend of the opening lap and held on to share the heat.

A machinery problem may have played a part in heat 10 when Tomas Piszcz didn't seem to turn at the back, going straight on into the first bend fence narrowly missing Anders Andersen's back wheel as he did so. He was rightly excluded from the re-run which Anders Andersen won from the gate after a hard opening bend and despite the close attentions of Andrew Tully for all four laps.

Once more the home side were given a lesson in gating in heat 12 with Fisher and Sneddon, Fisher winning the race by a considerable distance. Juul chased Sneddon hard and made some good attempts to pass at various stages throughout the race but Sneddon held firm.

Worryingly before the start if heat 13 there was frantic work going on centering on Shane Parker's bike but when the race got underway he made a good gate and hit the front. Trent had to work very hard on the opening bends to get the better of Wethers and Summers who were then on his tail for a lap before the Glasgow skipper pulled clear and Tigers had another 5-1.

Robert Ksiezak made the gate in heat 14 and a clever move from Davey saw him come through the inside into second place off bend two. Derek Sneddon was in close contention and made a hard but fair challenge on the apex of the third and fourth bends. Mitchell came off and Sneddon came through into second place but was never in a position to realistically challenge Ksiezak.

The home fans sensed victory was in their grasp with Glasgow only having to avoid a last place to record a win but tings were to go oh so wrong for Glasgow in heat 15.

The initial running saw Fisher gate but he was quickly overhauled by Shane Parker. Ksiezak slipped through the inside on bend two into second place. Fisher kept challenging, a rather out of control looking drive on the opening bend of lap two being countered by Robert with a drive up the inside of bend two to once more regain second spot. Fisher came up the inside of Ksiezak coming into bend four, the two riders making slight contact. Fisher went through into second, Robert struggled to recover and ended up crashing heavily into the home straight fence just after the exit of bend 4 and sadly breaking his collarbone in the impact.

After a lengthy delay for fence repairs, Shane came out in the re-run and basically blew the opposition away from the gate. He was well clear at the front and in no danger when the unthinkable happened and his engine packed up going down the back straight. He could only coast back round as the Monarchs pair went past to claim the win. It perhaps summed up the two teams respective season.

Luck is a part of speedway and definitely deserted the Tigers today. A Shane Parker engine failure during a team meeting is like hens teeth and for it to happen at such a crucial time against our closest rivals just adds insult to injury. However there were positives to be taken from the meeting, there were good performances and we certainly were not the whipping horses most expected us to be. It is however from a Tigers point of view scant consolation.

 

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