Tigers Just Miss the Point
(Posted 05/06/09)

Tigers will be disappointed to come away empty handed from Redcar last night as they went down by 49-41 on what was a surprisingly poor track.

The track came as a bit of a shock as Redcar has always had a reasonable racing surface but like so many tracks these days they seem now to be moving to the very slick type of track we have seen in GP's in recent years and as a result passing is rare and usually down to errors and most races are won from the gate.

That was certainly the case in this tussle between the Bears and the Tigers and unfortunately gating is not one of the best attributes of many of the Glasgow riders.

The opening heat was shared with Shane Parker gating quickest and claiming the win. Many opposition fans had been less than complimentary about Tigers move to sign Lee Dicken but he put their gas at a peep in heat 2, winning from the gate by a good margin.

Tigers other newcomer, Rusty Harrison, was a tad too keen to get going in heat 3 resulting in a re-run for rolling. It went against the Tigers as in the re run it was the home pairing of Wilson and Stonehewer who made the gate and claimed the 5-1 with Tigers guest and former Redcar Cub Aaron Summers looking surprisingly off the pace.

Just how the track was affecting racing was highlighted in heat 4. James Grieves made an excellent start and was quickly followed by Ty Proctor. Proctor was all over the back of Grieves but with the lack of passing lines the fans were robbed of the type of passing and re-passing seen in the past, Proctor only able to hope for a mistake from Grieves. That did not come and with Dicken having beaten Bugeja out of the gate, the Tigers had a heat advantage to bring the scores on the night back level.

It looked as if both Redcar riders might have beaten their Glasgow counterparts out of the gate in heat 5 but as they came out of the opening bends it was Parker who was in second place behind Stonehewer. Shane challenged in the early stages but the race finished as they had come out of the opening bends.

Tigers were for a short while on a 5-1 in heat 6, Grieves leading from Davey, but Mitchell locked slightly towards the end of the opening lap and both Bears riders were able to slip through. Davey never gave up but Glasgow had to settle for a share of the spoils.

Another shared heat followed in heat 7, Proctor leading from the gate this time with Dicken and Harrison following before we had a genuine pass in heat 8. The Redcar pairing had gated with Kessler up front but at the end of the opening lap Mitchell Davey managed to slip by Arlo Bugeja to split the Bears.

After tough opening bends, Grieves came out ahead followed by Wilson. Stonehewer slipped by Davey after he made a mistake and drifted going into the corner and the heat was shared.

Heat 10 provided some genuine racing for second place between Kessler and Harrison, Kessler getting the better coming out of the second bend but Rusty, looking better as the meeting went on, managed to hit back a lap later and proceeded to give chase to Havelock. Havelock just held on for the win.

There was a little bit of debate over heat 11 when the referee called the first running back with Glasgow on a 5-1 because Proctor was rolling and missed the start. The re run then saw both the home riders gate. Parker shadowed Compton for two laps before seizing his opportunity to go round him but Proctor was already well clear.

However the Tigers hit the home side with a sucker punch in heat 12 courtesy of electric gates from Harrison and Davey who won the heat pretty convincingly.

A long interval followed and this perhaps put the Tigers off their stride as when the riders came to tapes for heat 13 although James Grieves made the gate, Parker was left at the back and that was how it stayed until the chequered flag. It was followed by a match winning 5-1 in heat 14 for the home side with reserve Benji Compton passing both Mitchell and Rusty in one move to slot in to second place behind Ben Wilson.

It was still possible for Glasgow to claim a single point if they could get a heat advantage in heat 15 but that more or less disappeared as soon as redcar won the toss and were able to chose gate 4 which had been by far the best gate all evening. When the tapes went up, Havelock shot out of gate 4 into the lead and was never going to be caught. Grieves and Parker filled the minor placing's but it was not enough to give Tigers the point that many felt they deserved.

Harrison and Dicken both rode well on their debut and Grieves was only denied a maximum due to Havelock's heat 15 win. They were well backed by Davey and Parker but the bottom line is that missing Josh Grajczonek and Ross Brady and having to rely on guests and rider replacement cost the Tigers dear

 

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