Home Win but One Point Dropped
(Posted 27/07/09)

The overnight rain had left the track quite heavy and in the early stages it looked a bit greasy but come the final heat Glasgow will be disappointed that they didn’t take the opportunity to get full points from this encounter, losing out again in heat 15.

The start was delayed after a problem with the tapes but once fixed it was Magnus Karlsson who made an electric gate and led the opening heat from start to finish with Grieves in second.  New boy Sandi Conda looked relatively stylish for his opening ride on a strange track and tricky surface and did well to hold off the close attentions of Ritchie Hawkins to claim third spot.

All four riders looked a little uncomfortable with the surface in heat 2.  Mitchell Davey made the gate with Lee Dicken sweeping wide on the opening bends to take over at the front, quickly pulling clear although giving everyone a heart in the mouth moment at the end of the opening lap with a bit of a wobble.  Mitchell Davey made an error on bend 2 of the second lap drifting far too wide and Simon Lambert pounced for the visitors, slipping through the inside into second place.  Unfortunately for Mitchell he did not recover quick enough to take advantage of the mistake in the same place by Lambert a lap later and although Mitchell kept trying he had to settle for third spot.

Wilkinson was first out of the trap in heat 3 and with the surface still settling down he was able to comfortably claim victory in a heat that was  more or less from the gate, the only exception being William Lawson passing partner Josh Grajczonek on the opening bends.

Shane Parker won heat 4 easily from the gate but with the track beginning to settle Lee Dicken showed how to attack it after missing the gate.  He trailed David Howe for the first two laps before swooping round the outside of him on bend 4 of the second lap, then giving chase to Simon Lambert.  Lambert was a bit cuter in defending the move from Lee a lap later, drifting slightly wider himself and although Lee kept trying he had to settle for third spot.

It was William Lawson who hit the front coming out of bend 2 in heat 5 and won the heat in style.  Josh Grajczonek managed to pull level with Magnus Karlsson on the backstraight, pulling ahead courtesy of an inside pass going into bend 3 but Karlsson hit back straight away, switching onto the inside line on bend 4 to return the compliment and Josh had to settle for third.

Sandi lifted badly off the  gate in heat 6.  With Howe and Hart for the Scorpions nearly entangling with each other he took the opportunity to briefly pass inside Howe off lap two but Howe on the racing line was able to hit back on bend three and then settled in behind his partner to ensure a share of the spoils.

A well spread out heat 7 was won by Shane Parker from the gate with the spoils shared before the accident in heat 8 that was to bring Sandi Conda’s debut meeting to an abrupt halt.

Lee had gated and Sandi attempted to join him at the front with a courageous blast round the outside of the opening bends.  Unfortunately he seemed to get caught out by some deep stuff near the pits gate and crashed heavily into the safety fence, a crash that saw him withdrawn from the meeting with suspected broken fingers.  In the re-run, Simon Lambert had gated for the visitors but Lee Dicken did not too bad out of the trap either and rode the wide line on the opening bends into the lead coming out of bend 2 into the lead.  Hawkins passed his partner and gave chase to Lee for all four laps, pulling level on bend two of the final lap, but Lee was able to find that little extra to pull clear again and claim the win.

Lawson was untouchable in heat 9 after tremendous opening bends, Grajczonek challenged Howe mid race but was unable to mount any serious challenge and had to settle for third.  Heat 10 followed a similar pattern, everything done and dusted by the second bend, James grieves winning comfortably with Lee Dicken securing third place after passing Bergstrom on the opening bends.

With Scunthorpe now 10 points down it was no surprise that they brought the impressive Manus Karlsson out as a TR in heat 11.  Karlsson once again gated with Shane Parker in third for a spell, only getting by partner Davey on bend three.  At this stage Karlsson already looked to have a pretty comfortable lead but Shane gave chase and by the end of lap two had got to within touching distance.  For the next three bends he tailed him closely before a magnificent swoop very wide round the fourth bend saw him power past Karlsson and go on to take the win.  It was a pass that really had to be seen to do it justice.  At the back, it had looked in the early stages as if there would be another good battle for third spot between Davey and Hawkins but the Scorpion suffered an engine problem and was forced to retire.

Lawson was again untouchable from the gate in heat 12 but Lee had it all to do after missing the start.  He once again utilised the outside line on the opening bends this time to pass Simon Lambert.  Lee then gave chase to Bergstrom, getting very close on the pits bend of lap three. Perhaps buoyed on by this, Lee went for the wide drive on lap 4 bend 2 but this time got sucked in by the dirt in a similar manner to Conda in heat 8.  In a very nasty looking fall he hit the fence at the start of the second bend, tried to stay on but was flung off, landing at the entrance to the pits  with his bike a further 25 feet down the back straight.  The heat was awarded and after lengthy treatment both on track and in the ambulance, Lee returned to his area in the pits albeit aided by a couple of helpers.

Heat 13 was from the gate, Shane Parker winning easily although surprisingly James Grieves completely missed the start and finished at the rear.  Putting a positive slant on it, it did prevent Scunthorpe using another tactical in heat 14.

Josh Grajczonek had not had the best of afternoons out of the gate but hit the front from the gate in the initial running of heat 14.  However he overcooked things on bend 4 whilst clear and relatively unchallenged out front.  He tried to recover it but hit the deck with Wilkinson laying down behind him to minimise the damage. The Scorpions pairing gated in the re-run but Mitchell Davey rode a good hard opening bend to move Simon Lambert over nicely and come through into second place.  He was however unable to make any impression on Carl Wilkinson who won the heat easily and we once again had a last heat decider for the final point.

The tapes went up very quickly after the riders were called to order for heat 15, the Scorpions pairing of Wilkinson and Karlsson acted equally quickly, leaving Shane and William in their wake. They gave chase and Shane did battle with Wilkinson, initially passing him on lap 2 bend 3 before Wilkinson hit back on the next corner before Shane finally got the better of him on lap 3 bend 2 to split the visiting pairing.  The damage was done however and for the second home meeting running Tigers dropped a home point that in all honesty they should have been capable of keeping.

It was good to have a full 1-7 at last and although Sandi Conda’s debut was cut short there was no doubt that Glasgow have signed a good young talent here.  William Lawson was on fire and it is great to see Shane Parker back in top form. Josh and Mitchell both had off days and by his high standards to a certain extent so did James but he still claimed two firsts and a second. Lee was in is element until his accident and rode well.

Obviously the biggest downside of the day was that two of our riders finished up injured and we can only hope that both Lee and Sandi can take full advantage of Tigers not having an away meeting this week and are back in the Tigers line up next Sunday.

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