One to Forget
(Posted 12/10/09)

A poor season came to an almost appropriately dire end for Glasgow yesterday as they were easily swept aside by Edinburgh in the final home team meeting of the season.

Any hopes of finishing on a high note were very quickly forgotten as the question in the early stages became 'will Glasgow hit 30?'.

Edinburgh's fast gating abilities were on show right from the opening heat when Fisher and Rajkowski easily beat temporary Tigers Sneddon and Johnston out of the gate. Johnston nipped up the inside of Rajkowski on the second bend and for a couple of laps chased Fisher hard before the American pulled clear to go on and record the race win.

There was an easy heat win for the visitors Aaron Summers in heat 2 after he swept round the outside of both Tigers riders on the opening bends. the points were shared with Davey comfortably holding Bekker off for third place at the rear.

William Lawson had failed to make the parade, spending extra time working on his bikes and it looked as if it would be profitable when he gated in heat 3. However Andrew Tully pulled level with him coming out of bend two and the two rode almost side by side for the remainder of the lap, Tully edging ahead at the end of the lap and going on to claim the win.

Josh Grajczonek had also missed the parade with bike problems and struggled in heat 4, being left at the rear. Summers and Rajkowski gated and although Lee Dicken passed inside Rajkowski on the apex of the third and fourth bends on the opening lap, the Pole hit back on the opening bends of lap 2 and the visitors had their first 1-5 of the afternoon.

They didn't have to wait long for their second, Fisher and Rajkowski easily beating Lawson and King from the gate in heat 5.

Tigers tried to claw their way back in to the meeting by putting Steve Johnston out on a TR in heat 6 with limited effect. Johnston had to settle for second place, Andrew Tully hitting the front for the visitors from the gate and although Johnno tried both inside and outside lines there was no way through.

Tully was out again for the visitors in heat 7 and a little eager to get started, jumping the start at the first attempt. the re-start saw Josh Grajczonek make a text book gate however and he went on to record Tigers first race win of the afternoon despite Tully's close attentions for all four laps, although with the visitors packing the minor placing's the heat was shared.

It was a brief respite from the Monarchs onslaught however. the Edinburgh pairing outgated their Tigers counterparts again in heat 8 but Derek Sneddon came through on the inside of Rajkowski on the pits bend of the opening lap. It was short lived however as Rajkowski repaid the favour at the end of the lap and the visitors recorded yet another relatively easy 1-5.

The final throw of the tactical ride dice came in heat 9 when Glasgow sent Lawson out in the black and white helmet. unfortunately it was to fail after the Edinburgh pairing outgated Glasgow yet again and although Lawson tried everything he could to get by Aaron Summers in second place it was not to be.

Andrew Tully was fast out of the traps for the visitors in heat 10 and was joined at the front by team mate Matthew Wethers who took the inside line on the pits bend to go from third to first.

Mitchell Davey was first out of the trap in heat 11 but made a pretty basic error going far too wide on the opening bends which saw him relegated to the back by the time they came into the back straight. it was Josh Grajczonek who took over at the front however and Josh worked hard for all four laps to claim his and Glasgow's second race win of the afternoon. Mitchell was left off the pace at the rear and was unable to take advantage when Rajkowski clipped the fence on the final bends, the Pole managing to recover sufficiently to hold on to third place.

Had the meeting been close, heat 12 might have been regarded as slightly controversial. Tigers gated on a 5-1 for the first time and were just beginning to look comfortable out front when Lee Dicken made an error on the pits bend of lap two allowing both Monarchs riders through. Lee recovered and gave chase, finally catching up with Bekker and passing up the inside of him going into the final lap. Bekker tried to hit back and appeared to have got up the inside of Lee on the backstraight but the Glasgow man came off going into bend three. In all honesty from our angle there did not look as if there was contact but the referee saw differently from his angle and gave third place to Lee.

Heat 13 was decided from the gate, Fisher winning with the Tigers filling the minor placing's.

Whether he had made changes to his bike or things just clicked, Mitchell Davey came out and won heat 14 easily from the gate. Edinburgh looked to have a share of the spoils when Matthew Wethers bike failed coming into the penultimate bend. The Aussie tried hard to nurse it to the finish but Jason King just managed to beat him to the finishing line to give Tigers a rare heat advantage.

It almost seemed as if normal service was resumed for the afternoon in heat 15, Fisher and Summers recording the visitors SIXTH 1-5 of the afternoon from the gate.

It is all very well saying that it was end of season and Tigers were very much a makeshift outfit - which is true - but the chasm between to the two sides was vast and it was a pretty depressing afternoon to be a Tigers fan. Losing heavily is always hard to stomach but to lose so comprehensively at home to your nearest rivals, and deservedly so, is a bitter pill to swallow. Roll on 2010.

 

 

 

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