Another Home Defeat
(Posted 12/07/09)

It seems the Tigers season goes from bad to worse with a rather inept display at home today against the Sheffield variety of Tigers resulting in a 10 point home defeat.

It has been so easy to point to injuries this season and the lack of potential replacements and yes that has played its part but today was unacceptable and the number of people in the small crowd who left before the conclusion of the meeting will be ringing alarm bells.

So to the meeting itself. 

The opening heat saw a level gate between Grieves, Harrison and Ashworth.  Grieves on the outside line took the lead coming out of bend 2 and it looked as if Harrison had the edge on the inside of Ashworth but by the third bend Ashworth had pulled clear and gave chase to Grieves although never really threatened.  Young Hugh Skidmore slid off at the back and remounted on the second lap when already well at the rear

Heat 2 looked tasty but with the clock ticking down Mitchell Davey returned to the pits with bike troubles and although Josh and Robbie worked hard to get another bike ready for him he failed to beat the 2 minutes and was left with no option but to go off 15m. Paul Cooper won the re run from the gate although Lee Dicken chased hard all the way and make him work for it.  At the rear, Mitchell appeared to be on a badly misfiring bike and looked almost embarrassed to get a point after Chris Mills fell and remounted on lap two.  The visiting fans certainly made their displeasure of Mills known as he remounted then later retired with Davey obviously still struggling.

A tapes malfunction held up heat 3 and when it got underway Richard Hall did well to stay on his bike on the second bend after a major wobble, sending him from 2nd to 4th. Joel Parsons led in the early stages but Robbie Kessler swept outside him on bend 3 and into the lead.  Unfortunately on lap 2 bend 3 Kessler slid off whilst in the lead and although all other riders negotiated their way round him, Lee close on Parson’s tail, Kessler stayed down and the race was halted. The final three man running of the heat saw Richard Hall win a spaced out heat from Lee Dicken.

Jason Bunyan won heat 4 by a country mile, helped by Cooper nearly taking his partner Auty out on the opening bends, but there was a heart in the mouth moment on the final lap when Bunyan’s bike seemed to develop problems on the second bend causing him to slow dramatically.  Mitchell Davey retired on lap 2 of the heat with bike problems of his own.

Ashworth was quick from the gate in heat 5, followed by Kessler and Dicken.  Kessler went very wide on lap 3 bend 2, Dicken coming through into second spot with Skidmore making up ground on the Tigers guest.  He made an attempt to pass coming out of bend 3 but overcooked it, sliding off and resulting in the heat being awarded.

It was Rusty Harrison who made the gate in heat 6, James Grieves uncharacteristically being caught cold. Auty nipped through on the inside of Harrison coming out of bend 2 into the lead and was followed shortly afterwards by James Grieves giving chase. Mills never gave up for the visitors and Harrison only just held on to third place on the line.

A hard opening bend saw the Sheffield pairing of Parsons and Hall hit the front out of bend 2 in heat 7 and although Bunyan never gave up trying and was all over the back of Joel Parsons for most of the race, he was unable to get by.

Hugh Skidmore tried an ambitious outside swoop on the opening bends of heat 8 and, perhaps slightly ‘helped’ by his partner ended up sliding off into the pits bend fence resulting in an exclusion and a re-run. In the re-run, Lee Dicken rode a good opening couple of bends to guide Paul Cooper wide and make a gap for Harrison to nip through the inside into second place.  Cooper hit back almost straight away, going round him on bend 3 to reclaim second then chased Lee for the remainder of the heat but Lee held on for the win.

After a close gate, Auty and Dicken headed the race with Kessler getting the better of Chris Mills courtesy of an inside pass on bend 3 of the opening lap of heat 9.  Mills hit back however less than a lap later, coming inside Kessler on bend two of lap two to reclaim third spot with Kessler retiring on the final lap whilst at the rear.

An excellent gate from Richard Hall in heat 10 was enough to see him claim the win although James Grieves never gave up trying to find a way through.  Rusty Harrison briefly held third place after passing inside Joel Parsons on lap 2 bend 3 but the visiting rider worked a move from bend four to build up the power to cruise past him on lap 3 bend 2.

Sheffield then hit Glasgow with a sucker punch in heat 11 and a lot of the credit for it has to go to Paul Cooper who moved Bunyan cleverly wide on the opening bends opening the way up for the Sheffield pair to hit the front.  Bunyan tried hard for all four laps but was kept at bay.

With Tigers now 10 points down, Stewart Dickson elected to bring Lee Dicken out in the black and white helmet in heat 12.Unfortunately, Lee was impeded on the opening bends by partner Robbie Kessler and left stuck at the back. As always, Lee did not give up and was all over the back of the slower Chris Mills.  Coming in to lap 3 side by side, there was a coming together of the two riders and it did appear from our vantage that Lee, on the inside, did collect Mills although from his own reaction when the exclusion was announced its clear Lee did not agree!  The tactical move was negated and in the re run the visitors recorded another heat maximum more or less from the gate.

James Grieves was then given a tactical ride in heat13 and it looked set to work thanks not only to an excellent gate from James but also some clever riding from Jason Bunyan. Bunyan rode a smart opening bend to hold up both Sheffield riders as much as possible then worked extremely hard not only to hold them off but also slow them down, allowing Grieves to open up a little gap.  Just when it looked as if Glasgow were in line for an 8-1 however disaster struck with Grieves bike packing up on the final lap.  Bunyan went on to win the heat whilst a dejected James was left to walk back to the pits.

Kessler gated in heat 14 but held it for less than a lap with Hall swooping round the outside into the lead and going on to claim a convincing win.  At the rear, Lee Dicken came hard under Paul Cooper out of bend 2 and held off his attentions to claim the single point.

The formality of heat 15 gave Glasgow their only 5-1 of the afternoon, Bunyan winning from the gate with James Grieves working hard to hold off Josh Auty for second pace.

Jason Bunyan worked his backside off and is beyond criticism as is Lee Dicken. The song says ‘Things Can Only Get Better’.  For Glasgow fans at the moment they certainly can’t get much worse.

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