Dire End to 2008 Season
(Posted 02/11/08)

The riders turning out in Glasgow race jackets for the last meeting of the season were comprehensively destroyed by the home side in what was a rather dull and uninspiring meeting at Armadale.

A 50 minute delay prior to the start with the paramedic apparently stuck in traffic caused by the 7.30pm closure of the M8 did not help matters, but it was never going to be allowed to fall victim to the delay and when the first heat finally got underway it set the tone for the Tigers for the rest of the evening.

James Grieves gated for the composite side but made an uncharacteristic error at the end of the opening lap, going wide on the fourth bend and allow both Monarchs riders through.  Although Grieves never gave up, there was no way back.

Charles Wright made a good gate in heat 2 but Pijper used the inside line on bend 2 to take the lead. Summers was all over the back of Wright, almost drawing level on the third bend but Wright held until a rather aggressive move by Summers up the inside on the final bend of lap 2 saw him claim second place and the Tigers were at the wrong end of another 5-1.

Heat 3 saw the home side make it three in a row, recording a 5-1 from the gate with the only action of any note being Trent Leverington sliding off at the back at the start of lap 3.

Fears of a whitewash were at least thwarted in heat 4 when Charles Wright claimed second place in another heat from the gate.  Trent Leverington briefly challenged Summers at the rear.

Not surprisingly Stewart Dickson brought James Grieves out as a TR in heat 5 and although he was outgated by Wethers, the wide line on the opening bends allowed Grieves to come out of bend 2 in the lead.  Wethers did not give up and pressed hard.  He was joined by his partner Tully and the pressure paid off for the home side when Tully took the other two by surprise to come through into the lead on the second bend of the final lap.  Wethers then compounded the Tigers misery with an inside pass off the final bend to give the home side yet another 5-1.

Heats 6 and 7 were once again from the gate, resulting in a 5-1 and a 4-2.

Charles Wright came to grief in the initial running of heat 8 when he picked up grip coming out of the second bend, his bike rearing.  Wright did his best to get off the bike before it hit the fence but got a sore one.  It was left to Robert McNeil to face the Monarchs alone and the inevitable 5-1 followed from the gate.

More from the gate stuff in heat 9, the heat being awarded when Trent Leverington fell and got caught under the fencing coming into bend 4 on the second lap with the home pairing well ahead.

Heat 10 saw Edinburgh’s Tully excluded after he made a rash challenge on leader Michal Makovsky and the end of the second lap which saw him hit the fence and partner Will Lawson having to lay his bike down to avoid his partner. Makovsky again made the gate in the re run and worked hard to fend off Lawson on the opening lap.  James Grieves came from the back, taking a very wide line for almost the entire second lap to build up the drive to go from last to first on lap two and went on to win comfortably.  Lawson continued to press Makovsky and passed him on the second bend of lap 3 to split the Tigers pairing.

Grieves won heat 10 from the gate with Pijper following him home but the action was al at the back.  Fisher came off on his own at the back on the opening lap, remounted and gave chase. He caught McNeil at the start of lap 4, McNeil realised he did not have the power or skill to hold him and went wide on the second bend, allowing Fisher an easy and sensible route through into third place.

Heat 12 was again from the gate although Makovsky had to work hard especially to hold of the challenge of Matthew Wethers after slowing down thanks to an idiot on the third bend pressing the brake lights of their vehicle as the riders approached the third bend.  The attempts to ruin the remainder of the race by doing the same on subsequent laps were unsuccessful as the riders obviously realised what was going on but it was sad to see such irresponsible behaviour from the pits area.  Makovsky managed to hold off Wethers and Adam McKinna rode a decent race in third place to hold off Aaron Summers to give Tigers only their second heat advantage of the night.

More from the gate action in heat 13, the home pairing hitting the lead from the gate with Trent Leverington taking his third fall of the evening at the end of the third lap whilst at the back.

Adam McKinna suffered what sounded an expensive engine failure on the opening bends of heat 14 and it was down to Makovsky to fight the Tigers cause.  Tully passed inside him off bend two in what has become his trademark pass but Makovsky worked hard and rode well to hold off Theo Pijper and claim second place.

Another engine failure for one of the Glasgow select followed in heat 15, this time for Makovsky at the start of the second lap when he was lying in third. That paved the way for Andrew Tully to challenge James Grieves in second place and when Grieves made an error on the final bend he was quick to pounce at the home side finished with yet another 5-1.

It was an embarrassingly heavy defeat but hardly surprising given the makeshift nature of the side Glasgow had to put together. That does not make it any easier for the fans on the terracing's though who despite the poor season Glasgow have had still traveled through in reasonable numbers.  The home side fans naturally enjoyed the occasion and partied as they deserved to do after a fine season but taking away their party mood it really was an awful meeting and certainly would not do anything to improve speedway’s image. 

We have all heard the ins and outs of who was and who was not available and naturally the late withdrawal of Lee Dicken was an unexpected blow but the viability of these challenge meetings when guests make up almost half the riders on display surely has to be looked at.

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