Losing Start to PL Campaign
(Posted 01/06/09)

Workington turned out deserved winners after a lack lustre performance from Glasgow in their opening home meeting of the Premier League campaign.

The writing was on the wall from the start when Tigers were outgated in the opening heat.  Shane Parker slipped past Charles Wright on the opening bends and gave chase to Adrian Rymel but although he was never far off was unable to mount any serious challenge either.

John Branney led into the opening bends of heat 2 but Mitchell slipped up inside him off the second bend and soon put a comfortable distance in between them.  Meantime Workington’s Craig Cook appeared to be struggling at the rear and retired at the end of the third lap, the heat advantage to the Tigers leveling the scores.

The pattern of the visitors being far better out of the gate was to be a recurring feature especially in the early stages.  Doolan and Lawson comfortably won heat 3 from the gate before Compton and Branney hit the front out of the traps in heat 4. James Grieves came through on the opening bends to hit the front coming down the back straight although partner Lee Smart was left trailing at the back after Branney blocked his attempts to come through on the second bend.  Grieves looked to be in full control but Compton never gave up and tailed him for three laps before a brave move through a small gap on the outside of the second bend on the final lap saw Compton take the lead, holding on for an impressive heat win.

Heat 5 was shared from the gate, Rymel winning easily after Davey locked up whilst challenging on the third lap.  Again Tigers were to be outgated in heat 6 with Craig Cook the rider who surprisingly led out of bend 2, Shane Parker slipping inside Rymel into second place.  Cook was only able to hold Parker off till the end of the opening lap, Shane powering round the outside of the young Workington rider off the final bend and finally passing as they went down the home straight.  Parker quickly pulled clear and won the shared heat by a considerable margin.

Again Tigers were outgated in heat 7 but one of Grieves trademark drives to the opening bend was enough to take him through into the lead. Doolan chased ready to pounce on any mistake but Grieves rode a flawless race to win.  Meantime Mitchell Davey was working hard to overcome a poor gate and timed a good pass up the inside of Richard Lawson lap two bend two giving Glasgow a heat advantage.

The first running of heat 8 resulted in carnage as Mitchell Davey lost control coming into bend two causing Lee Smart to lay down. Mitchell was unable to stop himself from riding into the unfortunate John Branney who hit the deck heavily and was subsequently forced to withdraw from the meeting injured. Mitchell was trapped under both bikes for a short while until freed with the aid of an allen key whilst Branney received treatment on track for a foot injury before taking a trip back to the pits in the ambulance for more attention.

With Branney unable to continue, Craig Cook took his place in the uneventful re-run, which was won from the gate by Charles Wright with Lee Smart finishing second.

An excellent gate from guest Aaron Summers was enough to give him victory in heat 9 although he was pushed all the way by Andre Compton.  Compton pulled level on the second bend of the final lap but Summers reacted quickly to hold him off.  At the back it looked as if Craig Cook had got the better of Lee Smart in their battle but an excellent drive up the inside off the final bend saw Lee claim third on the line.

Shane Parker won a well spread heat 10 from the gate before a dramatic heat 11.  As the riders came to the tapes, Adrian Rymel continually backed away as the start marshall was about to walk away.  The crowd certainly showed their displeasure as this went on for easily a full minute.  The tapes finally went up without the green light on, the red lights immediately came on and the referee disqualified Rymel – rightly – for  not being ready to race at the end of the two minute time allowance.

Workington elected to put Rymel in off 15m.  James Grieves made the gate and quickly hit the front with Mitchell Davey and Charles Wright battling hard for second place.  Mitchell almost got round Wright on the second bend then switched to the inside line to try an inside pass on bend four.  However Rymel came storming up from the back entering the inside of bend four with far too much power and the outcome was inevitable.  He clattered heavily into Davey setting off the domino effect with Davey shoved into Wright.  Mitchell was dispatched into the fence just coming out of bend four.  Charles Wright hit the fence half way to the finish line and was catapulted down the track landing heavily some 20m over the start line in what was an horrific looking fall. Rymel was rightly excluded for what can surely only have been an uncharacteristic rush of blood to the head but Charles Wright was unable to continue and was replaced in the re run by reserve Craig Cook.

The drama was still not over.  It looked as if the third attempt at running the heat was going to be mundane, Grieves making the gate and Mitchell settling in to second place behind him with all three riders comfortably spaced out.  On the third bend of lap 3, Mitchell's bike packed up.  He coasted to the apex of the bend until Craig Cook passed then took to his feet and started a long push for home in extreme temperatures.  He had to react quickly to get over the line before the race was completed and then gave it his all running for home pushing the bike for another full lap.  He collapsed a few meters short of the line, picked himself and bike up and pushed the final couple of meters to get his point with eleven seconds to spare.  It was an almost unbelievable effort in that heat.  Mitchell received treatment for exhaustion on track before heading back to the pits where he was also given oxygen as a precaution.  Although he understandably took no further part in the meeting, it is understood he was still planning to head out to Germany last night to represent Australia today.

The lift of Mitchell's heroics were short lived for the Tigers fans however when Kevin Doolan and Craig Cook recorded an easy 5-1 for the visitors from the tapes in heat 12.

After a level gate in heat 13, Andre Compton took advantage of the outside line to come out of bend 2 ahead  The heat quickly became two races in one with Shane Parker chasing Compton  although never quite looking as though he would find a way through whilst James Grieves was involved in a much closer battle with Adrian Rymel at the back.  Grieves held third place under heavy pressure, in particular doing well on the second bend of the final lap to hold off a hard inside drive from the Czech before Rymel went too wide on the third bend and slid off. The shared heat meant however that Workington had secured at least one point from the afternoon.

Heat 14 again saw the Tigers outgated.  Lee Smart tried to come through on the inside of bend two but was cleverly blocked by a very aware Craig Cook and ended up at the back.  Aaron Summers took up the mantle and finally managed to slip inside Cook on the second bend of lap 3 but was unable to put any pressure on Lawson up front.  Lee Smart meantime pressured Cook for third spot but the impressive youngster held.

Workington were now guaranteed the win but a minimum of a 3-3 was needed to get them all four points under the new league scoring system. Glasgow have had a reputation for heat 15 victories and when Grieves and Parker hit the front out of the gate it looked as if Workington might have to settle for 3 points.  However, a pincer movement out of bend two saw Compton pass outside Parker whilst Doolan came through inside and the Workington pair were then happy to team ride to give Workington all four points.

It was a very disappointing afternoon for the Tigers but to be brutally honest they got what they deserved.  Workington were there for the taking, they lost two riders throughout the meeting to injury but still Glasgow could not react.  The Comets constantly outgated Glasgow and were worthy winners on the day.  Mitchell Davey’s heat 11 heroics aside, there was just something missing from Glasgow’s display and hopefully the announcement of team changes and a settled 1-7 will help the Tigers regain the never say die attitude from the start of the season.

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