Glasgow Tigers 44 Newcastle Diamonds 46

Robert Ksiezak out front in Heat 15, Christian Henry in pursuit.
About to start the final lap and Robert looks over his shoulder hoping to see his team mate behind him............... James Grieves would come within half a bike length of Christian Henry, but it wasn't enough and three well deserved points went to Newcastle.

Another home defeat, another long walk home.....................

I'll run through the riders and do my best to keep it brief.

James Grieves - 13 Points - Great stand in for Shane. Four wins and a third in the final heat. Didn't get the start he wanted in Heat 15, but chased Christian Henry all the way to the flag. Cheers James, more of that tomorrow night?

Trent Leverington - 5 Points - Unfairly penalised in his 2nd heat I thought, though a haul of five is lower than usual for Trent. Possibly still feeling the effects of last weeks crash.

Josh Grajczonek - 3 Points - Like last week, he maybe ought to have scored more, but there was little to find fault with, considering he was riding at a very tough berth in the team. On for a 2nd place in his first outing, he twice got the third/fourth bend combo wrong and ended up at the back. In heat five, he was back on form with an excellent 2nd place to clinch a Tigers 5-1, keeping Jo franc behind him in the process. Heat 14 saw him get inadvertently pushed wide by his team mate Ross Brady and lose two places to the Newcastle pairing of King & Stoddart. It's great to watch him ride, he has that neatness and balance that I love to see, much as I'm a fan of the 'round the boards' riders like.........

Lee Dicken - 5 Points - Not a bad outing at No2 for Lee. Great heat win on his own after Trent got excluded, and another couple of thirds, proving the big man isn't quite as out of place in the 1-5 as I thought he'd be.

Robert Ksiezak - 11 Points - What a turnaround from last week. Three heat wins and two third places. Some excellent gating and once he's out there, when things are going well for him, he never looks like getting caught. More of this would be great, everyone knows what he's capable of, and I have a sneaking suspicion he does too..................

Ross Brady - 7 Points - My eyes bugged out when I saw his total points. SEVEN!!!? He picked up four early on then looked out of sorts at the back in the next two. There was one heat in particular, can't remember if it was 2 or 4, but he looked extremely uncomfortable and only just held on for 2nd place by the skin of his teeth. In his final heat, he looked like a rider possessed. Jumped the first start, then got a rocket in the 2nd, though in the process he ended up taking the wide line and compromised Josh who got swamped by the two Newcastle boys. Ross was nipped on the line for the win by Jason King, giving Newcastle the upper hand for the final heat.

Mitchell Davey - Took an absolutely awful tumble in heat 7. Not entirely sure what went wrong, but it seemed like his bike seized, spitting him over the bars. He's currently being held over night in hospital for observation and we're awaiting news on his injuries. A speedy recovery to the boy and hope to see him again, though one can only conclude that things just aren't working out for him. I'd rather not say any more, as it'll seem like I'm kicking him while he's down. Let's just say that circumstances have more than a little to do with his nightmare start, but it'll take guts to come back from this latest setback.

Newcastle - Pepe Franc always impresses me, love the way he rides. Shaun Stoddart did a great job at reserve and almost certainly can take a great deal of credit for Newcastle's win. Considering they had no George Stancl and the added aggravation of not having Ben Powell (Now an 'ex-Diamond' according to manager George English), the Diamonds victory must have been all the sweeter.

Finally, according to Stewart Dickson, Shane Parker will be out for a couple of months at least. Get well soon Shane! In the meantime, it looks like guest riders all the way. Even if Stewart decides not to make any changes in the coming months, it looks like things will be pretty 'interesting' for the foreseeable future.

The score card for the meeting can be found here. A full meeting report will be up soon on the same website.