Bank Holiday Entertainment
(Posted 28/09/09)

The Glasgow select came out on top in a pretty well balanced and enjoyable meeting at Ashfield this evening.

Some thought had obviously been put into the way in which the teams lined up to make the racing as competitive and balanced as possible throughout the meeting and despite the late start and a couple of lengthy delays for fence repairs, all ran smoothly.

The Glasgow select certainly got a wake up call in the opening heat as the Vikings duo of Neilson and Bjerregaard gave a lesson in gating, leaving Anders Andersen and Gary Beaton to play catch up. Anders passed outside Bjerregaard as they entered the back straight for the first time and went on to pressure Simon Neilson. The two had a good battle out front with Anders coming close to getting through on the pits bend of the final lap but Neilson showed good awareness and held him off for a deserved win.

A good gate from Nick Morris saw him open up a surprisingly good gap between himself and the other riders in heat 2 but it seemed to catch him out as he looked back with a quick double look at the end of the opening lap and the lack of concentration saw him hit unexpected grip which sent him heavily into the fourth bend fence back first. After a lengthy delay for treatment to both the fence and Nick, Robert McNeil won the well spread re run from the gate.

Lee Dicken trapped quickly in heat 3 and was followed out of bend two by the Vikings pair of Barrett and Gunnestad. The heat was quickly well spread and although Gunnestad got slightly out of shape on the third bend, McBain was too far back at that stage to take advantage and the heat was shared.

Tigers got a heat advantage from the gate in heat 4 courtesy of a race win for Mitchell Davey and Robert McNeil's third place, Alexander Edberg splitting the Tigers pairing, before the impressive Vikings partnership of Neilson and Bjerregaard once again showed excellent gating to hit the front in heat 5. Lee Dicken went wide and made a good swoop round the outside of Bjerregaard on the final bend of the opening lap then tracked down Neilson. At the end of lap two he came very close to repeating the move on Neilson but the young Dane was ready for it and held on. One lap later Lee tried to feign the outside line and cut inside but that again was thwarted by Neilson. In typical Lee fashion he continued to buzz all over the back of the youngster for the final lap, going very wide to the boards on bends 3 and 4 to get the grip that just gave him enough to edge passed Neilson out of the final bend in the run in to the tapes to claim the win.

Glasgow got their first 5-1 of the afternoon in heat 6 from the gate courtesy of Anders Andersen and Gary Beaton. both gated well, Anders settled in to protect Gary for a couple of laps by which time they had a reasonable gap and he then pushed Gary all the way to ensure a comfortable heat win.

Nick Morris had been withdrawn from the meeting as a precaution following his heat 2 fall and Colin Mackie sensibly decided not to have fellow reserve Robert McNeil doing 7 rides given that he was returning from a nasty injury and therefore Mitchell Davey was the sole Tiger in the line up for heat 7 He was outgated by Nicki Barrett and although close behind him he also had to contend with Gunnestad breathing down his neck. An error by Barrett going into the third bend of lap 2 saw him drift wide and Mitchell seized his opportunity to come through the inside. Barrett made a determined effort to try and hold on but Mitchell pulled clear crossing the start finish line and went on to win the shared heat.

Bjerregaard and Beaton gated side by side in heat 8, Gary just getting the advantage to come out of bend 2 ahead whilst at the back after a sluggish gate Robert McNeil passed inside Lee Geary for third. Bjerregaard was only a couple of bike lengths down on Beaton without ever really challenging and Gary rode a sensible race to ensure the heat win.

Heat 9 undoubtedly provided the most passes in a single race. Whilst Lee Dicken won comfortably from the gate the action was all at the back. in the early stages Edberg was involved to an extent in the battle and inadvertently hampered his team mate at the end of the opening lap but he then pulled ahead of Tarp and McBain who had what Sky would no doubt call a ding dong battle for third, swapping places almost on every bend and a couple of times on the straights for added measure. Tarp had the edge going into the final bend but it looked as if he might have gone slightly too wide, McBain tried to cut up the inside and the two races almost side by side to the line with Tarp just edging it by half a wheel.

Team Viking went with 3 riders only in heat 10 with Nicki Barrett missing due to problems in the pits. Anders gated for the Tigers quickly followed by sole Viking Lars Daniel Gunnestad. Gunnestad got out of sorts on the third bend, going very wide and doing well to stay on but Gary Beaton took full advantage to nip up the inside. Gunnestad gave chase and swept outside Beaton coming out of bend two on the final lap. Unfortunately he carried too much speed into the third bend and slid off allowing Gary to come back through again to claim second with Gunnestad having to push home for the point.

With the Vikings 10 points down they brought their star man Simon Neilson out on a TR in heat 11 against sole Tiger Mitchell Davey. Neilson and partner Bjerregaard gated, Bjerregaard slowed things down with Davey whilst Neilson pulled clear and although Mitchell mounted a challenge on Bjerregaard for second spot, the maximum for the visitors was never really in any danger. A last bend outside swoop by Mitchell ended up with him spinning and coming off, having to push for home for the single point.

A slight mix up over gate positions was quickly sorted out before heat 12 got underway and when it did it was Lee Dicken once more who was to win comfortably from the gate. Tarp was comfortable in second place with McNeil in third until his engine blew coming out of the pits bend on lap 3, allowing Gunnestad who was close behind the opportunity to come through into third.

In the initial running of heat 13, Andersen and Davey gated, Anders again attempting to settle in behind his partner to protect him from the Team Viking pairing who were right on his tail. Going into bend 3, Anders went too wide and ended up riding a wall of death style manouvre up the kickboards and along the actual mesh fence. Unfortunately just when it looked as if he might get away with it, Anders footrest caught in the fence stopping his bike dead and catapulting Anders over the handlebars to land around 20 feet away. Remarkably and to everyone's relief, Anders was able to walk back to the pits after some medical attention. The re run saw a level gate between all three riders but Mitchell battled his way to the front out of bend two and never looked back.

Heat 14 was shared from the gate with Nicki Barrett winning for the visitors after making a pretty impressive gate leaving us with a last heat decider.

Glasgow had the advantage of winning the toss and perhaps a little surprisingly took gates 2 and 4. They were proved correct however when Lee gated with Mitchell coming through into second spot and holding off a determined challenge from Simon Neilson for a couple of laps before pulling clear to see the Tigers finish with a 5-1.

There was obviously not only a lot of work done in getting this meeting put together but also in the team line ups and that showed on track with most races providing close action.

Considering that it was their first time on the track the Team Viking lads did very well with Neilson in particularly looking good. It was a shame that more people weren't there to be entertained by the youngsters (and Lee!) but full marks to the organisers for an entertaining evening.

 

 

 

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