James Grieves - Ashfield Classic Champion
(Posted 28/09/08)

Individual meetings aren't everyone's cup of tea but today's Ashfield Classic provided a good afternoon's entertainment with the birthday boy becoming the first Scottish winner at the end of it.

Things started sedately enough with Rory Schlein wining the opening heat from the gate, James Wright in second place chased hard but provided no real threat.

After a re-run for an unsatisfactory start, David Howe completely missed the gate in heat 2 but passed inside Robert Ksiezak relatively easily on the third bend of the opening lap to claim third. Up front, there was a great battle between Carl Stonehewer and James Grieves which lasted all four laps. There was rarely much daylight between the two, Grieves coming out on top after a neat and well timed pass inside Stonehewer on the backstraight of the final lap.

More close action followed in heat 3. All four riders gated together, Shane Parker came out of bend 2 ahead with Topinka moving into second place after muscling Makovsky out on the opening bends. Topinka powered inside Parker on the third bend of lap two but his momentum took him too wide on the fourth bend allowing Shane to come back through. It was nip and tuck between the two for the remainder of the race but Parker held on for the win.

Many were keen to see Peter Juul's first action in a Glasgow race jacket and he did not disappoint in heat 4. He reared badly at the gate and was left behind with Mitchell Davey and Lee Dicken hitting the front thanks to good gates. Peter passed inside McKinna before the second bend and by the time the riders hit the back straight all three Glasgow men were in close contention, swapping places. Juul got the better of Dicken on the final bend of the opening lap before passing inside Davey on bend two lap two, pulling clear and going on to win the heat.

Heat 5 was won easily from the gate by James Grieves, the only pass being by Trent Leverington, coming inside Lee Dicken at the end of the third lap to claim third place. Similarly heat 6 was won from the gate, this time by Topinka, with Ksiezak second and Juul not far behind in third.

Stonehewer made the gate in heat 7 but James Wright left himself an uphill task by missing it. He passed Davey on the opening bends before going outside Smethills on the third bend and giving chase. He was quickly on Stonehewer's tail, challenging hard and very nearly got by on the inside at the end of the third lap. In a good battle to the end, Wright finally managed to slip inside Stonehewer coming into the penultimate bend and held on for the win.

Heat 8 was well spread from the gate before Lee Smethills shocked Leverington and Ksiezak with an electric gate in heat 9 which saw him lead out of bend 2. Both Robert and Trent chased him hard on the opening laps, Robert finally passing inside him and the end of the second lap and pulling clear. Trent never gave up and was all over Smethills, finally sneaking through on the inside off the final bend to claim second place by half a bike length.

The friendly rivalry between Shane Parker and James Grieves meant it took three attempts to run heat 10, both riders being guilty of one anticipated start each. The third running saw Shane miss the gate however whilst James powered clear to win from the gate.

David Howe appeared to be hampered by bike problems in heat 10, loosing third spot to Makovsky at the end of lap 3 in a heat easily won by James Wright.

Schlein was looking head and shoulders above the competition at this stage and it was no surprise when he won heat 12 from the gate. Dicken and Topinka were doing battle side by side for second place when Carl Stonehewer came from nowhere to execute a superb pass on both on the second bend of lap 2. Dicken and Topinka continued to have a close battle, Lee coming out on top for third place.

After a close opening bend between Parker and Stonehewer, Stonehewer pulled clear towards the end of the opening lap to go on and win heat13. The action was once again for the minor placing's with Trent Leverington pushing Shane Parker hard all the way. Trent claimed second briefly on the third lap but Shane quickly reclaimed it and held it to the line with Peter Juul in fourth not far behind the pair.

There was more close racing in heat 14 after Lee Dicken made an excellent gate. David Howe was all over the back of him for all four laps but the Lee held firm, partly thanks to an error by Howe on the third bend of the final lap.

Topinka won heat 15 from the gate although Adam McKinna did well to stay on his bike at the rear on the opening bends after coming into bend two with too much power and shooting across the bend, narrowly missing Wright's back wheel.

After a poor gate, Schlein quickly overpowered the opposition in heat 16, taking the lead after passing inside Robert Ksiezak on bend 3 of the opening lap. Robert did not give up and chased all the way without ever really being in a position to threaten. Mitchell Davey came off heavily into the fence on the penultimate bend whilst at the back.

Wolves David Howe finally won a heat, and also won it relatively easily from the gate, in heat 17 and made it quite clear how much it meant on what had been a frustrating afternoon for him. Trent Leverington got the better of Tomas Topinka on the opening bends and held the King's Lynn man off for the remainder of the race to secure second place.

Referee Jim McGregor decided to add a little controversy to the meeting with what can only be described as a strange decision in heat 18, and one which could have cost Carl Stonehewer his chance of going any further. the initial running saw Makovsky collect Stonehewer coming out of the opening bend with Berwick's Tamas Sike coming off on his own at the rear and colliding heavily with the first bend fence. Most expected an all four back call, feeling that perhaps an exclusion for Makovsky would have been a little harsh as it was the opening bend. However Mr McGregor decided to exclude Stonehewer for whatever reason and much to the Comet riders disgust.

With Sike unable to take his place in the re-run, James McBain came in as a replacement but the race was well spread from the gate, Makovsky claiming the win that took him level on points with Stonehewer.

An uneventful heat 19 saw Shane Parker make sure he qualified for the semi final with a win from the gate in what was a pretty well spread heat.

The final heat saw Schlein once again dominate, winning relatively comfortably from James Grieves with Peter Juul not far off Grieves for the entire race.

Justice was done on the count back with Stonehewer just squeezing into the semi final alongside Shane Parker, Tomas Topinka and James Wright. Parker completely missed the gate but came inside Topinka and Wright on the second bend to slip through into second behind Stonehewer. The action for the majority of the race was focused on the battle between Topinka and Parker with neither rider giving any quarter. Topinka never gave up and on the final bend pulled slightly ahead of Parker only for Parker to react quickly and regain second place on the run in to the line.

With Grieves and Schlein automatic qualifiers for the final they obviously chose the much more favourable inside gates with Parker and Stonehewer left on the outside. With the need for a good gate from the outside, Stonehewer inadvertently baulked Parker coming into the opening bend and Shane was left well off the pace at the back. The race for the title was however taking what many saw as an unexpected twist. Grieves made an excellent gate, blocked Schlein's opening bend challenge and Schlein locked slightly allowing Stonehewer through into second place. Stoney was not going to give up easily and he held Schlein off until the third bend of lap three when Schlein finally managed to get through on the inside line. Grieves meantime had taken full advantage to put as much daylight between him and the rest of the field whilst that battle was going on and was not going to be caught. He comfortably crossed the line in first place to become the first Scot to win the title on his own 34th birthday.

It was an afternoon that proved that you can get good entertainment at these individual meetings even though it was bitterly cold towards the end of the afternoon. James Grieves was a popular winner, timing his best ride of the day to perfection with Carl Stonehewer doing his bit to help him by holding Schlein up for three laps - even though he also ended Shane's remote chances out of the gate!

Many congratulations to James Grieves on a good win and he further pleased the crowd by indicating that he did one day want to return to ride for Glasgow once more .

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