Tigers Gate to First Away Point
(Posted 04/07/09)

Glasgow claimed their first away Premier league point of the season last night at Workington in a close scoring gaters contest.

Unfortunately there was very little racing on a very slick track but the Tigers stuck to their task well and deserved at least the point hey came away with.

One of our guests, Justin Sedgmen, came out as rider replacement in the opening heat but in his keenness to make a good start he ended up going through the tapes and was replaced by Mitchell Davey.

James Grieves and Kevin Doolan gated side by side but James took the quicker inside line to lead out of bend two. With Davey also getting the better of Craig Cook on the opening bends it gave the Tigers a heat advantage to start with.

Mitchell was out again in heat 2, making an excellent gate to take the win although Lee Dicken was left at the rear.

Rymel made the gate for the win in heat 3 although Rusty Harrison in second place never gave up trying to find that elusive passing line but it was not to be.

It seems almost pointless going through the meeting, as I usually do, heat by heat, because the plain truth is that virtually every heat was from the gate. Heats 4-6 were certainly in that mould with Workington recording a heat advantage in each to give them a four point lead going into heat 7.

Heat 7 did see a change from the gating order although it was down to rider error rather than genuine passing. Both Comets riders had gated but Compton made an uncharacteristic error on the opening bends and by the time he recovered he was at the rear.

The monotony returned again as the trend for the positions into bend one to be the same as the finishing positions continued. It certainly was working against Lee Dicken who was surprisingly sluggish out of the gate whilst James Grieves looked on excellent form despite losing out to Adrian Rymel in heat five.

The home side chipped away however and a heat advantage in heat 9 combined with a 5-1 after Rusty Harrison and Mitchell Davey were both sluggish out of the gate in heat 12 saw them open up a 10 point lead going into heat 13.

Not surprisingly, Glasgow took the opportunity to bring Grieves out in the black and white helmet. As with the opening heat, James and Kevin Doolan gated side by side with James again getting the advantage on the opening bends. He had to work hard all the way for the victory however as Doolan was all over him but yet again was unable to find a passing line to mount a serious threat. With guest Johnston comfortably getting the better of a rather poor Andre Compton, the Tigers halved the deficit between the two sides.

The late comeback continued in heat 14. Justin Sedgmen popped sweetly out of the gate to lead from start to finish and with Mitchell Davey getting the better of Richard Lawson to claim third place, we were suddenly facing a last heat decider with a victory for Glasgow still possible.

Perhaps crucially, Workington won the toss and were able to chose their preferred gate positions with Doolan and Rymel lining up against Johnston and Grieves. Surprisingly it was Steve Johnston who was to get the drop on the others to lead into the first bend and claim the win. Rather cruelly James Grieves, who had been excellent all night, missed the gate and was stranded at the rear resulting in a shared heat which gave Workington the win but allowed Glasgow to come away with the single point.

The team all worked hard this evening, especially when you consider that gating is not particularly our forte. What was most disappointing was how a decent race circuit like Derwent Park had turned into the dreaded gaters paradise, something that was hopefully only a one off.

 

 

 

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