Around the Premier League Tracks 2008
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Today’s main match was at Glasgow where the Tigers raced against Edinburgh in a Premier League match.
Premier League: Glasgow 45, Edinburgh 47.
Glasgow were without Robert Ksiezak out injured with a broken collar bone while Edinburgh were missing Thomas H Jonasson out with a broken ankle. Both sides used Rider Replacement – Glasgow at number 4 and Edinburgh at Number 2.
It might have been just an ordinary league match (at least as ordinary as local derbies between Glasgow and Edinburgh ever are) but this was a contest extraordinaire – a match of two halves as they say in footballing parlance.
Glasgow still smarting from last Sunday’s home defeat at the hands of the Monarchs thanks to a last heat 0-5, were determined to break their duck in derby matches this season at the seventh attempt but it all went pear-shaped after heat 8 with the Tigers holding a twelve point lead and looking like adding to it.
Glasgow could hardly have wished for a better start. William Lawson led heat 1 until the first bend when he slid off causing a rerun without him. Derek Sneddon was fast away at the second attempt but Lee Dicken changed lines entering the first bend and passed Sneddon on the inside. Shane Parker joined him up front with an inside pass this time on the third turn and the Tigers were off for an opening 5-1. The two Glasgow reserves made the start in heat two and Sneddon again had to watch from the back as the home side added another 5-1. It didn’t get much better for the Monarchs in heat 3. Lee Dicken took the Rider Replacement ride and made another fast start. Ryan Fisher, giving chase, went wide on the fourth bend but slid off leaving Dicken to score another heat win. Andrew Tully took second place so the result was a 4-2 which put the Tigers ten points ahead. At last Edinburgh provided a race winner when Matthew Wethers made the gate and held off some strong challenges from Trent Leverington in heat 4. Anders Andersen followed him home for a shared heat which took the score to 17-7.
The shell-shocked Edinburgh side immediately gave the Rider Replacement ride in heat 5 to Ryan Fisher and gave him the black and white helmet cover as a Tactical Ride too but he made a poor start leaving Trent Leverington to storm off and win the race easily. Fisher finished second while William Lawson took third ahead of Peter Juul for a 3-5 which cut the gap between the sides to eight points. The respite for the Monarchs was only temporary though since Parker and Dicken made lightning starts ahead of Matthew Wethers for Glasgow’s third 5-1 of the match which put them 12 points ahead. Trent Leverington stormed from the tapes to win heat 7 from Andrew Tully and Ryan Fisher for a 3-3 while Matthew Wethers did the same for the Monarchs in heat 8 for another shared race which took the score to 31-19.
Then it all changed as Edinburgh got into their stride. Heat 9 saw Derek Sneddon and Matthew Wethers fast away from Mitchell Davey and Peter Juul and the 1-5 cut the Tigers’ lead to eight points. In heat 10 Ryan Fisher made the gate and led Shane Parker while the Glasgow number 1 suffered an engine failure on the third lap. Lee Dicken continued his productive run with a valuable second place under pressure from Andrew Tully whose third place gave the Monarchs a 2-4 cutting the gap further to six points. Trent Leverington steadied the Glasgow ship by winning heat 11 comfortably from William Lawson but behind them Andrew Tully passed Anders Andersen for third place to share the race. Edinburgh looked to have a good chance of another race advantage in heat 12 as Fisher and Sneddon were programmed to meet the two Glasgow Danes Juul and Andersen. It looked like they would get a 1-5 too when they made the gate but Andersen passed Sneddon on the second bend and Juul followed suit with an inside pass on the third bend to leave the Edinburgh captain to chase them at the back. Sneddon fell on the third bend of lap 3 but remounted to finish last while Fisher won the race easily. The 3-3 kept the Tigers six points in front with just three races left with the score at 40-34. But it looked like Edinburgh had blown a valuable chance of making up further ground on the home side.
It started to go horribly wrong for the Tigers in heat 13 though. In the first running of the race Shane Parker was soon off and away with Trent Leverington slotting into second. However just when the Tigers finally thought that they had a win over their auld enemy in the bag Matthew Wethers made a superb inside pass on Leverington on the fourth bend. Desperate to regain his position Leverington charged hard under Wethers going into the first bend on lap two only to spin off causing William Lawson to have to lay down to avoid him. In the rerun Shane Parker again led but again Matthew Wethers found drive off the inside of the fourth bend to pass him and go on to win the race. Lawson too wasn’t far off Parker as the race finished as a 2-4 to Monarchs bringing them even closer with the gap down to four points. The butterflies in the Glasgow stomachs began to flutter even harder when Derek Sneddon charged off to win heat 14 with ease. At the back Andrew Tully recovered from another poor gate to reel in the Glasgow Danish pair. Although he finally caught and passed Anders Andersen on the final bend there wasn’t enough time for him to mount a challenge on Peter Juul but his third place point gave Edinburgh another 2-4 to cut the gap to just two points with one heat to go. Surely the Monarchs couldn’t pull the match out of the bag again with a last heat maximum! Wrong! Glasgow looked to have gained an advantage by winning the toss for gate positions and they chose the inside gates. However Ryan Fisher off gate 4 stormed out of the start with Parker in hot pursuit. On the first bend, however, Matthew Wethers, who had also made a good start, passed him on the inside and denied him a clear run round the bend. Leverington then emerged as the main threat to the Monarchs’ pair as they stormed off down the back straight in the lead. Leverington gave way to Parker who took up the challenge but the Glasgow number 1 never got quite close enough, or in the right position, to attempt a pass on Wethers so the 1-5 saw Edinburgh home to a win which had looked highly unlikely after heat 8.
As had happened last week the Glasgow fans were left to trudge off home in a bemused, stunned silence while the Edinburgh fans revelled joyously in the euphoria of the moment. But it was only a league match after all! To make matters worse this time the Tigers could not complain about suffering bad luck but were left to swallow the bitter pill of defeat knowing they had been turned over by a side which doesn’t seem to know when it’s beaten.
Scorers: For Glasgow – Lee Dicken 11+2 (5), Trent Leverington 11 (6), Shane Parker 8+1 (5), Anders Andersen 8+1 (6), Peter Juul 4+1 (5), Mitchell Davey 3+1 (3).
For Edinburgh – Matthew Wethers 14+2 (6), Ryan Fisher 14+1 (6) (with 4 point TR), Derek Sneddon 8 (6), Andrew Tully 7+1 (5), William Lawson 4+1 (4), Aaron Summers 0 (3).
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Today’s main match was at Glasgow where the Tigers raced against Edinburgh in a Premier League match.
Premier League: Glasgow 45, Edinburgh 47.
Glasgow were without Robert Ksiezak out injured with a broken collar bone while Edinburgh were missing Thomas H Jonasson out with a broken ankle. Both sides used Rider Replacement – Glasgow at number 4 and Edinburgh at Number 2.
It might have been just an ordinary league match (at least as ordinary as local derbies between Glasgow and Edinburgh ever are) but this was a contest extraordinaire – a match of two halves as they say in footballing parlance.
Glasgow still smarting from last Sunday’s home defeat at the hands of the Monarchs thanks to a last heat 0-5, were determined to break their duck in derby matches this season at the seventh attempt but it all went pear-shaped after heat 8 with the Tigers holding a twelve point lead and looking like adding to it.
Glasgow could hardly have wished for a better start. William Lawson led heat 1 until the first bend when he slid off causing a rerun without him. Derek Sneddon was fast away at the second attempt but Lee Dicken changed lines entering the first bend and passed Sneddon on the inside. Shane Parker joined him up front with an inside pass this time on the third turn and the Tigers were off for an opening 5-1. The two Glasgow reserves made the start in heat two and Sneddon again had to watch from the back as the home side added another 5-1. It didn’t get much better for the Monarchs in heat 3. Lee Dicken took the Rider Replacement ride and made another fast start. Ryan Fisher, giving chase, went wide on the fourth bend but slid off leaving Dicken to score another heat win. Andrew Tully took second place so the result was a 4-2 which put the Tigers ten points ahead. At last Edinburgh provided a race winner when Matthew Wethers made the gate and held off some strong challenges from Trent Leverington in heat 4. Anders Andersen followed him home for a shared heat which took the score to 17-7.
The shell-shocked Edinburgh side immediately gave the Rider Replacement ride in heat 5 to Ryan Fisher and gave him the black and white helmet cover as a Tactical Ride too but he made a poor start leaving Trent Leverington to storm off and win the race easily. Fisher finished second while William Lawson took third ahead of Peter Juul for a 3-5 which cut the gap between the sides to eight points. The respite for the Monarchs was only temporary though since Parker and Dicken made lightning starts ahead of Matthew Wethers for Glasgow’s third 5-1 of the match which put them 12 points ahead. Trent Leverington stormed from the tapes to win heat 7 from Andrew Tully and Ryan Fisher for a 3-3 while Matthew Wethers did the same for the Monarchs in heat 8 for another shared race which took the score to 31-19.
Then it all changed as Edinburgh got into their stride. Heat 9 saw Derek Sneddon and Matthew Wethers fast away from Mitchell Davey and Peter Juul and the 1-5 cut the Tigers’ lead to eight points. In heat 10 Ryan Fisher made the gate and led Shane Parker while the Glasgow number 1 suffered an engine failure on the third lap. Lee Dicken continued his productive run with a valuable second place under pressure from Andrew Tully whose third place gave the Monarchs a 2-4 cutting the gap further to six points. Trent Leverington steadied the Glasgow ship by winning heat 11 comfortably from William Lawson but behind them Andrew Tully passed Anders Andersen for third place to share the race. Edinburgh looked to have a good chance of another race advantage in heat 12 as Fisher and Sneddon were programmed to meet the two Glasgow Danes Juul and Andersen. It looked like they would get a 1-5 too when they made the gate but Andersen passed Sneddon on the second bend and Juul followed suit with an inside pass on the third bend to leave the Edinburgh captain to chase them at the back. Sneddon fell on the third bend of lap 3 but remounted to finish last while Fisher won the race easily. The 3-3 kept the Tigers six points in front with just three races left with the score at 40-34. But it looked like Edinburgh had blown a valuable chance of making up further ground on the home side.
It started to go horribly wrong for the Tigers in heat 13 though. In the first running of the race Shane Parker was soon off and away with Trent Leverington slotting into second. However just when the Tigers finally thought that they had a win over their auld enemy in the bag Matthew Wethers made a superb inside pass on Leverington on the fourth bend. Desperate to regain his position Leverington charged hard under Wethers going into the first bend on lap two only to spin off causing William Lawson to have to lay down to avoid him. In the rerun Shane Parker again led but again Matthew Wethers found drive off the inside of the fourth bend to pass him and go on to win the race. Lawson too wasn’t far off Parker as the race finished as a 2-4 to Monarchs bringing them even closer with the gap down to four points. The butterflies in the Glasgow stomachs began to flutter even harder when Derek Sneddon charged off to win heat 14 with ease. At the back Andrew Tully recovered from another poor gate to reel in the Glasgow Danish pair. Although he finally caught and passed Anders Andersen on the final bend there wasn’t enough time for him to mount a challenge on Peter Juul but his third place point gave Edinburgh another 2-4 to cut the gap to just two points with one heat to go. Surely the Monarchs couldn’t pull the match out of the bag again with a last heat maximum! Wrong! Glasgow looked to have gained an advantage by winning the toss for gate positions and they chose the inside gates. However Ryan Fisher off gate 4 stormed out of the start with Parker in hot pursuit. On the first bend, however, Matthew Wethers, who had also made a good start, passed him on the inside and denied him a clear run round the bend. Leverington then emerged as the main threat to the Monarchs’ pair as they stormed off down the back straight in the lead. Leverington gave way to Parker who took up the challenge but the Glasgow number 1 never got quite close enough, or in the right position, to attempt a pass on Wethers so the 1-5 saw Edinburgh home to a win which had looked highly unlikely after heat 8.
As had happened last week the Glasgow fans were left to trudge off home in a bemused, stunned silence while the Edinburgh fans revelled joyously in the euphoria of the moment. But it was only a league match after all! To make matters worse this time the Tigers could not complain about suffering bad luck but were left to swallow the bitter pill of defeat knowing they had been turned over by a side which doesn’t seem to know when it’s beaten.
Scorers: For Glasgow – Lee Dicken 11+2 (5), Trent Leverington 11 (6), Shane Parker 8+1 (5), Anders Andersen 8+1 (6), Peter Juul 4+1 (5), Mitchell Davey 3+1 (3).
For Edinburgh – Matthew Wethers 14+2 (6), Ryan Fisher 14+1 (6) (with 4 point TR), Derek Sneddon 8 (6), Andrew Tully 7+1 (5), William Lawson 4+1 (4), Aaron Summers 0 (3).
