Depleted Tigers Beat at Rye
(Posted 31/05/09)

The remaining Tigers, ably backed by guest Tomas Topinka, put in a sterling effort at Hoddesdon but it was not enough to stop them going down by 19 points to the home side.

As expected, the track was very slick and the opening heat was won from the gate by guest Tomas Topinka, Mitchell Davey missing the gate and finishing at the rear in what was an uneventful heat.

Mitchell was out again in heat 2 and although the Rye pairing were quicker out of the traps, he slipped through between them coming out of bend 2 to take the lead. Silver was all over the back of him however and on the third lap he found grip coming out of the second bend and powered past Mitchell on the back straight to go on and claim the win.

Heat 3 was a disaster for the Tigers with the Rye pairing easily claiming a 5-1 from the gate.

Stand in captain James Grieves was out in heat 4 and he literally led from the front, making a good gate and winning the heat comfortably.  Whilst Lee Dicken found himself at the back coming out of the opening bends he was determined and got reward with an outside drive round Silver on lap 2 to claim third place and give Tigers a heat advantage.

A clash between Davey and Sundstrom in the initial running of heat 5 appeared to affect the Glasgow youngster and he struggled in the re-run, finishing at the rear.  The Rye House pairing had made the gate but Tomas Topinka swept round the outside of Chris Neath on the opening bends, chasing hard after Linus Sundstrom for the remainder of the lap before powering past him off the 4th bend of the opening lap.  Topinka went on to win the well spread heat in style.

The adverse camber on the wide line at Rye House caught Lee Dicken out in heat 6, with Lee ending up in the fence on the second bend and excluded from the re-run.  James Grieves – who had been leading the initial running – was muscled out on the opening bends of the re-run by Rye House guest Jason Lyons and although James tried hard he was unable to find a passing line to hit back and had to settle for second place.

Unfortunately the Tigers lost another 5-1 in heat 7, Sundstrom winning comfortably from the gate with Bowen claiming second place after passing inside Rusty Harrison at the end of lap 2. Things went from bad to worse as Silver and Allen easily recorded a 5-1 from the tapes in heat 8 with little resistance from Glasgow’s reserve pairing.

Tigers took steps to halt the slide, bringing James Grieves out in the black and white helmet in heat 9 and he did not disappoint winning another processional heat from start to finish although partner Lee Dicken was stuck at the rear.

There was a little bit of controversy at the start of heat 10, Werner and Harrison making what looked like a clean gate but being called back for an unsatisfactory start by referee Paul Carrington and Werner warned for moving at the tapes.  The re-run saw Lyons win comfortably from the gate but his partner Tommy Allen seemed to be riding a bucking bronco, almost coming to grief at the start of the back straight before falling off at the end of the opening lap to gift Tigers a 3-3.

Tigers guest Tomas Topinka had been in excellent form and most probably expected another win from the Czech rider in heat 11 especially as he gated just ahead of the Rye House pairing.  However, Luke Bowen got the better of a tough opening bend to come into the back straight in the lead. Sundstrom was all over the back of Topinka and squeezed inside him on the back straight of lap 3 to give the home side an unexpected 5-1.

Rusty Harrison and Mitchell Davey gated in heat 12 but were unable to pull clear of veteran Rye House reserve Silver who tracked them for a lap before slipping inside Lee off bend two lap two.  Harrison worked hard to hold him off in what became an epic battle between the two but a last gap outside swoop on the final bend saw Silver beat Harrison to the chequered flag.

In a last ditch attempt to gain something from the meeting the Tigers elected to put Tomas Topinka out in the black and white helmet in heat 13.  He gated but was cleverly moved out by Linus Sundstrom not only allowing the youngster to come through but also leaving a gap which Lyons took full advantage of on the inside to come through into second spot.  In another good race Topinka never gave up trying but unfortunately for Glasgow there was no further passing and the 5-1 ensured victory for the home side.

Heat 14 was also to give the home side a 5-1 although Lee Dicken had held second spot for the first two laps before locking slightly at the end of lap two and allowing Chris Neath through.

Despite no longer being able to take anything from the meeting the Tigers continued to battle for every point and got their reward with a 1-5 in heat 15 thanks to a Grieves-Topinka 1-2. It was from the gate but they were made to work all the way by Rye House guest Jason Lyons who never gave up – Linus Sundstrom had been excluded for falling in the first attempt to run the heat.

It is one of those meetings where the scores do not really give the full story as Glasgow battled hard and were unfortunate not to at least get closer.  Tomas Topinka was an excellent guest although our other guest Brent Werner had a day to forget.  The four Tigers all showed great determination and never gave up with the home support admitting that Lee Dicken in particular deserved a lot more than his four points on effort alone.

Once again the negative effect of rider replacement was highlighted as it failed to return a single point all afternoon.

 

 

 

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