Spring Trophy Returns Home
(Posted 29/03/09)

In a thoroughly entertaining meeting that was a great advert for speedway, the Tigers came out comprehensive winners against our friends from the east to not only win the meeting but against all expectations to regain the Spring Trophy.

Right from the start the Tigers signaled their intent.  Ross Brady made a superb gate and rode an excellent first couple of bends to hold off Fisher before a very late red light saw them called back.  Shane Parker came back to the pits unhappy with his clutch and with time running out Anders Andersen lent him his bike to enable him to beat the 2 minute time allowance. 

Far from hinder Shane, he got one of his best gates in the rerun alongside another good gate from Ross Brady.  With Fisher all over the back of the Glasgow pair, they had to maintain full concentration with Ross in particular doing well to thwart an inside drive from Fisher on the pits bend of the final lap to ensure the 5-1.

Mitchell Davey followed suit with an excellent gate in heat 2 and when Anders Andersen came outside Rajkowski into second place out of bend two the result was a foregone conclusion with another 5-1 for the home side.

It’s not a derby without a disputed decision and for the opposition that was the decision to exclude Andrew Tully in heat 3.  Peter Juul had made the gate but ended up at the back after being baulked on the opening bends.  Josh Grajczonek took over at the front with Andrew Tully close on his tail for all four laps.  On the final bends, Tully attempted to come inside him and just when it looked as if the move was going to work Grajczonek hit the deck and the referee decided there was contact and awarded the race to Grajczonek.

The Tigers gating again saw them hit the front in heat 4 but Wethers went round the outside of Andersen into second coming into the third bend. The young Dane was not for giving up however and was all over the back of Wethers, almost getting the better of him with an attempt up the inside on the pits bend of lap three before executing an excellent overtake coming out of the second bend into the backstraight on the final lap to give him a thoroughly deserved and hard fought for paid win.

Edinburgh elected to bring Fisher out as a TR in heat 5, the earliest such a move could be used and the heat was an uneventful one with Fisher and partner Summers winning comfortably from the gate.

It could technically be said that heat 6 was from the gate but it was an entertaining heat  with effectively two races in one.  Up front, Shane Parker was all over Wethers who rode very well to hold him off for all four laps whilst Ross Brady likewise had to work very hard to hold off Michal Rajkowski for third place.

James Grieves was on excellent form and was untouchable as he easily won heat 7 from the gate.  For a brief spell Glasgow were actually on another 5-1 after Mitchell Davey passed outside Ryan Fisher into second but the Edinburgh no 1 had re passed inside Mitchell within half a lap. Mitchell worked hard but was unable to hold of a tenacious Tully who got by him as they crossed the start finish line for the start of the final lap.

Again it was excellent defensive work that was the main focus of heat 8.  Summers had gated and was gone, leaving his partner to try and get the better of Ross Brady for second place.  Ross again worked hard to hold off the Pole’s challenge in particular with an excellent blocking move on the pits bend of the final lap ensuring the two points.

Visiting captain Matthew Wethers won a shared heat 9 from the gate Josh Grajczonek pressed him all the way, before Tigers captain Shane Parker emphatically won heat 19 from the gate. Ross Brady held off both Edinburgh riders for all four laps to give the Tigers yet another 5-1 and the aggregate win that many had thought was out of reach was beginning to look possible.

The excellent track surface was put to full use in heat 11 with an excellent race which saw James Grieves and Ryan Fisher pass and re-pass for the majority of the four laps.  Fisher got the better of Grieves at the end of the third lap to go on and claim the win, the only rider to beat Grieves all day.

Glasgow’s two young Danes hit the front in the next race and rode a superb race to rack up another 5-1 for the Tigers.  It was an excellent ride in particular from Anders Andersen who team rode far beyond his age and experience in the early stages to help his team mate Peter Juul who in turn rode smoothly in the latter stages to make sure of the points.  The delight of both riders was obvious - as was the appreciation from the terraces.

More drama followed in heat 13 with a little theatre thrown in for good measure and unsurprisingly it involved Fisher and Shane Parker.  James Grieves once again got to the front despite some extremely hard riding from Fisher on the opening bends. Parker was left at the rear after a poor gate but was quickly back in the mix challenging Fisher for second place. After threatening to pass and pulling level on a few occasions only to be blocked, Shane finally made a superb pass outside Fisher going down the back straight of the third lap then cutting into the inside line on bend 3.  Fisher slid off on his own on bend three and stayed down trying to claim there was contact between the two.  The referee was not fooled and Fisher was excluded from the re-run much to his disgust.

A little bit of theatre followed with Fisher giving a wave to the Glasgow fans as he stormed down the back straight back to the pits where Parker was watching him return.  Fisher stormed right up to confront Shane but it was all a bit of handbags with Fisher quickly backing down once he realised Parker wasn’t intimidated and there were so many other riders and officials around there was never any danger of anything other than a bit of theatre taking place.

Stewart Dickson was clearly seen reminding his riders to stay focused for the re-run and they did not let him down. Grieves again won from the gate with Wethers and Parker having a god old battle for second place.  Wethers had the advantage of having made the gate, Parker cut inside him on the second bend of lap two, Wethers passed back outside Parker at the end of the lap.  Lap 3 was a carbon copy but Parker blocked Wethers attempts to get back into second place this time and held out for another Tigers 5-1.

Everyone was expecting Edinburgh to bring Tully out as a TR but in what must surely go down as, at best, a major gaff the monarchs failed to take the opportunity. Just before the tapes went up, Anders Andersen’s bike packed up on the line leaving Josh Grajczonek to do battle alone.  Josh gated and held off Andrew Tully relatively easily, the heat was shared and Tigers were left just needing a heat advantage in the final race to lift the Trophy.

Going into a last heat decider at Ashfield you couldn’t really ask for a better pairing than Grieves and Parker and they did not disappoint, effectively blowing the opposition away by the time they hit the back straight and fans, riders and management were celebrating a Trophy win that many thought impossible.

It was an excellent afternoon’s speedway, Glasgow were certainly worthy winners and the entertainment value was first class.  For any neutral it was an excellent advert for speedway, for Glasgow fans one of the best meetings in the past few years and the atmosphere on and off track reflected that.

Tigers showed today that they will not be the whipping boys the Speedway Star  pundits tipped them to be, certainly not at Ashfield at any rate.  Glasgow may or may not travel well but on today's display as far as home meetings are concerned Ashfield should be a very difficult place for visiting teams and also partly thanks to the work on the track over the winter the supporters should be in for some entertaining racing over the next few months.

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Glasgow Tigers speedway - posted on glasgow speedway dot com, an unofficial glasgow tigers speedway website. Copyright glasgow tigers speedway unofficial website