Tigers At The Tapes

The Legendary Villeneuve - Arnoux battle at Dijon 1979

2011-12-07T01:43:00.001Z

We'd like to think that modern F1 has lost something of it's appeal & entertainment in the past 20 years. Sadly, it is very much the case that F1 has always been a bit pish to watch. Ok, so in the 60's & early 70's cars drifted thru corners, rather than being glued to the track as they have been since about 1980, but at the end of the day, what we're talking about is a 2 hour bore-a-thon involving about 24 single seater guided missiles, travelling at stupid speeds and waiting for the man in front to either break down or crash. Christ, folk whinge about speedway being predictable....

F1 today of course has a variety of artificial devices in place to ensure that the spectator has to at least think about the timing of his/her loo/tea/hot-dog breaks. Mandatory tyres that have to be used, even if they go off after six laps, KERS to provide a bit more power through conserved energy, little flaps on the wings that can be opened at certain designated points to reduce drag.....

By these artificial means, they will produce racing of sorts, which is better than nothing. Will it be be as exciting as the last two laps of the French GP of 1979 at Dijon ?(above) Probably not, though if the aim is to prevent you, the license fee paying viewer from nodding out into your scrambled egg & toast of a Sunday lunchtime, then they have undoubtedly succeeded.

F1, shite as it is, is no longer quite the cure for insomnia that it used to be,

In fact, I'd go further. I'd say modern F1 is more interesting and exciting that what was dished up 30 years ago. What nobody ever seems to bring up about the 1979 French GP was the fact that for 78 laps it was a dull, run-of-the-mill F1 race. Full of intrigue for the geeks, no doubt, but for anyone else, the first you'd have known anything was amiss was when Murray Walkers voice went up several decibels and woke you from your post Sunday lunch slumber.

Only difference between then & now is that today the drivers would have been arrested for endangering their lives and those of the spectating public, rather than being hailed as motor racing super-heroes.

Quite right as well. Bloody hooligans!

Springfield Mile

2011-11-29T23:57:00.003Z

Big, fast and mental as f**k.

25 laps of streamling fun.

MZ

2011-11-25T19:45:00.024Z

Awesome bit of film about MZ motorcycles. Look out for the motorcycle football match....... :o

Mike Hailwood 1964

2011-11-25T19:35:00.002Z

Mike Hailwood describing his life on the road, racing the GP's in the mid 60's. This clip is most notable for the extraordinary onboard shots of Hailwood at the Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. Of course, this was pre safety, and these boys were riding the full 8 mile public road circuit. It may not be apparent from the footage, but this was the fastest, most brutal circuit on the calender. 8 miles & only one corner taken lower than third gear......

Also fun to hear Hailwood bitching about cars. He'd been doing a bit of F2 racing I presume, but he seemed to be out of his comfort zone compared to bikes. Those were the days of garage built racing cars that maybe did things you wish they didn't at 150mph. The irony in all of this is that in the 60's cars drifted & bikes didn't. Now bikes drift & F1 cars drive like Scalextric.

Hailwood went on to forge a reasonable F1/F5000 career for himself, so it couldn't have been that bad.......

US FLAT TRACK Part 1 - PEORIA TT 2010

2011-11-24T22:22:00.005Z

Hi. I'll be sticking some bits and pieces up here over the close season to make the place look like it's still inhabited.

I'll try not to make it all You Tube clips. Hope to write a couple of articles and stick some interesting photos up. I'll try and make it as varied as possible & quite possibly there will be absolutely no speedway content whatsoever............... : O

Cheers!

First up, Part 1 of a short series of posts about my current 'thing', US Flat Track racing. Been watching the British Short Track Championship on Motors TV recently, and it's stirred me to investigate further on the internet and stick on my copy of On Any Sunday for the thousandth time =D

Above is an excellent piece of film from the Peoria Flat Track TT races. Not too sure about the music though.... "~

In Flat Track terms, A TT is usually a race involving a few corners and a jump. In most cases, the tracks are quite short and slow. Not Peoria. The jump is flat out and sits on a left hand kink, with a right hander to follow. Looks great fun to ride.

Excellent piece of amateur footage, showing the layout of the track and it's picturesque setting.

Glasgow Tigers Premier League Champions 2011 - Trophy Presentation

2011-10-18T20:38:00.000+01:00

Glasgow Tigers v Newport Wasps (Meeting 2)

2011-10-18T20:03:00.000+01:00

Glasgow Tigers v Somerset Rebels Heat 14

2011-10-15T19:38:00.001+01:00

Glasgow Tigers v Scunthorpe Scorpions

2011-10-15T19:38:00.000+01:00

PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-10-12T00:46:00.000+01:00

Me & Pogo. Just as well he caught me early, I didn't realise I'd left the bar until I woke up next morning.

Jim & David Bellego

No sex please, we're Scottish....

I think it was around about this point I started walking on my knuckles.......

Joe Screen. Cheers Bloke!

Sweet Lord, I have no memory of taking this......

Thank fuck. ;)

GLASGOW TIGERS PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS 2011!

Glasgow Tigers: Premier League Champions 2011

2011-10-12T00:22:00.000+01:00

Glasgow Tigers v Scunthorpe Scorpions/Somerset Rebels

2011-10-11T23:42:00.002+01:00

Michal Rajkowski

James & Theo

Nick Morris & Richard Sweetman

Richard Sweetman

Thomas Jorgensen from Joe Screen

Joe & James on a 5-1 from David Howe

David Bellego

Thomas Jorgensen

Nick Morris

Richard Sweetman

Nick Morris

KO Cup Final 2nd Leg: Glasgow Tigers 49 Newport Wasps 41 (Newport win 106-78 on aggregate)

2011-10-04T22:57:00.000+01:00

Well done to Newport Wasps, winners of the 2011 Premier League KO Cup. A masterful performance at home on Saturday night saw the Wasps take a virtually unbeatable 65-25 lead to Ashfield, where they continued to press the home side to ensure the Tigers wouldn't stage any kind of miraculous comeback on a rather heavy track that saw a number of hairy moments for a few riders.

With the cup all but lost, and looming double headers, it was a chance for Glasgow riders to get the previous nights frustrations out of their systems and set themselves up for the six remaining meetings that would decide the destination of this years Premier League title, with all but the previous nights top scorer Nick Morris & Michal Rajkowski (withdrawn after a groin strain) picking up decent points. New boy David Bellego continued to impress despite only 3 points. He's got plenty speed and with sharper gating, he'll start to pull in the points at Ashfield.

Glasgow Tigers v Newport Wasps

2011-10-04T22:29:00.000+01:00

Glasgow Tigers 54 Sheffield Tigers 40

2011-09-27T01:49:00.001+01:00

The 3rd bend boys are in town. The Men In Stripy Suits: Coming to a cinema near you soon!

Shane takes shelter from the pale autumn Ashfield sun.

Joe & Raj, heat 1

Joe, Raj & Parker

Nick leads Shane

Grieves & Auty

The Tiger tucks into a bit of cake

Joe & Raj do it again

Grieves & Skidmore (I think)

James Grieves

Theo & Raj squeeze out Lambert

Cheggie heads back to his post

Nick Morris

Marc, Shane & Jim

Jim & Tony celebrate the three points

Glasgow Tigers 50 Newcastle Diamonds 40, KO Cup Semi-Final, 1st Leg

2011-09-18T23:04:00.004+01:00

Joe Screen

Lemon & Sneddon

Sweetmans Sweep

Nick Morris

Nick chases Mark Lemon as he tries to get to grips with Joe's bike after his own machine packed up.

Claes Nedermark

Theo Pijper

Michal Rajkowski

Start line preparations

Theo Pijper

Start of heat 13, dead level into turn 1

James Grieves & Claes Nedermark

James Grieves

Glasgow Tigers 62 Redcar Bears 30

2011-09-06T17:51:00.001+01:00

Parade

Heat 1

Jason Lyons

Theo Pijper

Nick Morris

Richard Sweetman

Gary Havelock

Redcar guest Jade Mudgway makes a quick exit from heat 2

James Grieves

James on his victory lap

Start of heat 5

Jason Lyons tips into the 1st bend prior to his unfortunate crash. A speedy recovery to Jason.

Richard & Nick run a concerned eye over the stricken Jason Lyons

Nick Morris. 11 points from his 1st ride in the 1-5

Michal Rajkowski

Discussion time in the pits

Start of heat 11

A good days work from guest Ritchie Hawkins with 4 paid 6

Aaron Summers leading Theo Pijper

Sweetman gets ready for the next heat

Ritchie Hawkins

Glasgow Tigers 55 Edinburgh Monarchs 39

2011-08-29T20:49:00.009+01:00

Apologies for the lack of action photos. Camera showing it's limitations a wee bit & struggled to get anything that didn't look like a multicoloured smear, due mainly to a very thick, dark cloud cover, resulting in almost zero light. Or maybe I'm just crap..... Loads of candid shots to make up the numbers anyway.

Another comfortable home win and our sixth victory this year over the Monarchs. Still, anyone who mentions the league title will be shot at dawn.......

The Tiger looks for his draw ticket.
Jim models the latest Joe Screen merchandise.
Nick heads for another bumper score, his last points-fest at reserve.

"Anyone seen my race jacket? I'm out in this one...."

The Tiger entertains the 3rd bend hospitality patrons.
Heat 11. Katajisto, McKinna, Wolbert & Grieves
George looking to market a new type of drinking helmet.
Jim models the latest anti-Edinburgh merchandise (unofficial, of course)
Kyle Howarth. A real trier and very sad to see him pull out of the meeting after a fall in heat 6
Joe Screen gets things warmed up
Alan Dick rolls out the design for next years race suits
Jude & the missus watch on as they clear riders & machinery from the track.
Raj takes the applause after heat 1
Kevin Wolbert chases Rajkowski
Screen, Raj & Wolbert
Heat one. Screen from Raj & Wolbert

Glasgow Tigers 60 Workington Comets 33

2011-08-23T00:33:00.004+01:00

Theo & Nick lend a hand on the start line.
The Tiger decides to get frisky with our reserves.
The Tiger comes up to visit the 3rd bend shack
Grieves & Lawson again, at the 4th bend
Grieves & Lawson battle it out for 2nd place
Joe Screen
Richard Sweetman, Nick Morris & Rusty Harrison
Rusty Harrison leads Nick Morris. Not for long.....
Joe Screen
Henry & Sweetman coast to another 5-1

Henry, Sweetman & Irving
James Grieves & Theo Pijper
Same race, Theo heading out of frame, Nick in focus
Theo Pijper & Nick Morris

Glasgow Tigers 53 Leicester Lions 42

2011-08-15T21:14:00.005+01:00

Richard Sweetman celebrates a fine display

Joe Screen
Theo Pijper & Christian Henry
Raj gets a hand back to the pits
Michal Rajkowski. Polish stare-out champion.
Bondarenko possibly wondering what the next heat will bring him. (answer: Not a lot)
Christian Henry
Henry (just out of shot), Karlsson, Sweetman & John Oliver
Magnus Karlsson comes under some pressure from Joe Screen
Richard Sweetman from Kauko Nieminen
Karlsson, Wright & Pijper
Henning Bager heads for the heat win, Sweetman swept round team mate Henry, before doing the same thing to Bonderenko the following lap to rescue what had looked like a dead cert 1-5.

Glasgow Tigers 58 v Edinburgh Monarchs 32

2011-08-02T22:29:00.001+01:00

Heat 15

Glasgow Tigers 58 v Edinburgh Monarchs 32

2011-08-02T20:20:00.004+01:00

Nick Morris & Claus Vissing lead kevin Wolbert in heat 11, nullifying the German's tactical ride.
One of two 5-1 heat maximums for the Monarchs, both featuring Matthew Wethers & Andrew Tully
1st lap, heat 10
Richard Sweetman
Nick Morris
Heat 4. Vissing, Cook, Morris & Howarth
Wethers from Raj
Raj hammers through the 4th bend

Glasgow Tigers 55 Berwick Bandits 34

2011-07-26T22:34:00.002+01:00

The team take their lap

Theo, Nick, Richard & Raj

James, Christian & Joe

Glasgow Tigers v Berwick Bandits

2011-07-26T00:06:00.005+01:00

Something in the stand catches the eye of James Grieves

Franc, Mudgway, Morris & Sweetman

End of Heat 13 Start of heat 13

Kozza Smith

Grieves & Raj on for a 5-1 in heat 11. Seb Alden got past to split the Tigers pair.

Lee Complin looks in vain for a way past Christian Henry

Lee Complin

Ludvig Lindgren starts on a fruitless push in lap. He failed to make it by about half the length of the home straight, a flat tyre not helping things.

Raj, Pepe Franc & Jade Mudgway

James Grieves keeps the relentless Lee Complin behind him

Heat 5. Kozza Smith, Christian Henry & Richard Sweetman

Nick Morris chases Mitchell Davey

Start of heat 2

Heat 1, Theo Pijper leads Seb Alden for a paid win.

Glasgow Tigers 53 Ipswich Witches 37

2011-07-19T00:38:00.004+01:00

Close quarters at the 1st bend
Young French Longtrack rider in 2nd half. Didn't catch his name. Very fast, and pretty aggressive.
Jerran Hart
Nick Morris
Theo Pijper on his way to a heat 8 win

Glasgow Tigers v Ipswich Witches

2011-07-19T00:27:00.003+01:00

Theo Pijper & Taylor Poole
Christian Henry
Richard Sweetman leads Morten Risager
Matthew Tresarrieu & Christian Henry contest the lead from Sweetman & Risager

Michal Rajkowski

Glasgow Tigers v Somerset Rebels

2011-07-10T23:43:00.001+01:00

Glasgow Tigers v Somerset Rebels

2011-07-10T23:20:00.002+01:00

Glasgow Tigers v Somerset Rebels

2011-07-10T23:05:00.004+01:00

Theo chases the pack. Flight from Finland delayed by 4 hours? Touchdown in Edinburgh at five past 4? Many would have headed straight to the bar. Theo made it back for heat 8 and scored a paid win in his 2nd outing. A warm welcome awaited as he came to the tapes, though a fine for missing his first heat will have been a bummer for our resident long track specialist.
Nick Morris

Joe Screen

Travis McGowan

Glasgow Tigers v Somerset Rebels

2011-07-10T22:52:00.003+01:00

Gathercole, Sweetman, Raj & Holder
Raj & Nick on for 5-1
Raj & Nick lead Davies & Holder in heat 2
Introductions

Teams Parade

Tigers v Lions

2011-07-03T23:24:00.003+01:00

No photos today folks, was otherwise engaged. Check here for scorecard.

Glasgow Tigers v Edinburgh Monarchs Spring Trophy: Heat 15

2011-06-28T22:23:00.001+01:00

Lee "Gating's For Pussies" Complin hangs back to party with Matty Wethers in the last heat.

Glasgow Tigers v Edinburgh Monarchs Spring Trophy: Heat 13

2011-06-28T21:37:00.000+01:00

Spring Trophy 2nd Leg: Glasgow Tigers 49 Edinburgh Monarchs 41 (agg 94- 88)

2011-06-28T19:21:00.003+01:00

Kean Dicken, son of former Tiger Lee Dicken

Scorecard

A rather overcast Monday night at Ashfield saw the Tigers take their third trophy of the year in a competitive and highly enjoyable meeting. A slow start was gradually overcome as the team found their footing in the 2nd half of the meeting. Despite only pulling in a paid 5, my man of the meeting was Lee Complin who looked to be having an absolute blast coming from the back to pick up vital minor points and in the process finding lines that nobody else thought existed.

Theo Pijper. Congratulations to Theo on winning the 2nd round of the World Longtrack Championship in Norway at the weekend, and bringing along the trophy for us all to have a look at. Cheers Theo! ;)
Grieves & Wethers break for the 1st bend
Kevin Wolbert
Rajkowski & Wolbert

Some vid clips to come.

Cheers!

Tigers Win Pairs Championship

2011-06-24T22:06:00.005+01:00

You wait three seasons for a ruddy trophy and then two come along at once.....

Having loosely followed the meeting through the evening on Speedway Updates, I kind of got a hunch that a last four finish would be on the cards. Winning it though? Maybe my pessimistic nature got the better of me......... ;)

Congratulations to Joe & James. A cracking performance both in the heats and when it mattered. I'll drink a few to them tonight, that's for sure........

See y'all again after Monday night's meeting.

Cheers

Tigers v Monarchs (Supercup)

2011-06-12T23:12:00.004+01:00

Hi. No photos today I'm afraid. Spent the weekend at East Fortune in East Lothian for the Bob McIntyre Memorial Classic Races. While Saturday was a washout, today's racing was excellent and a good time was had by all (the odd bump and bruise excepted).

Great to hear the Tigers took the match over the two legs with a pretty dominant performance today, in spite of being something of a Frankenstein team line up. After the disappointment of throwing points away late in the meeting on Friday, it's good to hear there's enough of a track advantage at Ashfield that even the Mighty Monarchs had a bit of trouble with it.... ;p

Glasgow Tigers 61 Redcar Bears 32

2011-06-07T00:10:00.003+01:00

Aaron "Hot Legs" Summers gets a nasty surprise at the start line when his bike starts to combust.

A quick blast of the fire extinguisher sorts things out as Aaron bolts off to the pits for his spare.

Tigers v Bears

2011-06-06T23:50:00.002+01:00

Guest reserve Gary Irving

The team come round on the tractor

Theo rides with Danny

Screeny & Summers

James Grieves

Tigers v Bears

2011-06-06T23:37:00.005+01:00

Lee Complin barges past Jason Lyons

Michal Rajkowski

1st bend action

Lee Complin flys through the 3rd bend

Jason Lyons

Tigers v Bears

2011-06-06T00:59:00.002+01:00

Theo & Joe from Havelock & Juul in heat 10

Gary Irving chases Robert Branford with Peter Juul in the background

Complin finds the line round the outside to take Gary Havelock.

Michal Rajkowski

Theo Pijper

Tigers v Bears

2011-06-05T23:11:00.002+01:00

Gary Irving impressed with plenty pace and some tough riding (not to everyone's taste though....)

Lee Complin demonstrates just how wide a line it's possible to take in the 3rd bend

Raj again. 11 paid 15 from six rides

Jason Lyons sandwiched between James Grieves & Michal Rajkowski and Lubos Tomicek

Bike problems for Theo in heat 1

Berwick Bandits 44 Glasgow Tigers 46

2011-05-30T20:02:00.005+01:00

Another fine away win.

Tigers fans on the back straight

Raj leads Edberg and Franc before losing his chain

Grieves, Rajkowski, Edberg & Franc

Start of heat 9

Nick Morris

Wethers, Grieves & Morris

Matthew gets ready to go.

Lee Complin

Grieves, Morris & Rajkowski

Craig Cook & Joe Screen

'Grand Parade of Riders'

Glasgow Tigers 50 Scunthorpe Scorpions 43

2011-05-23T23:22:00.004+01:00

James scrapes the 4th bend boards in heat 9

Phew! That was close!

By the half way point on Sunday there was no way I thought the meeting would go to the last heat, but it did.

Heat 11, David Howe on a TR, Nick & Josh gate and look to have killed the match, only to come down on the 3rd bend. Nick went down, and it looked as if Josh laid down to avoid his partner, though Josh later stated they both hit the same rut in the 3rd bend. Heat 14, and another 5-1 on. Somehow Nick loses it on the 4th bend, maybe gets a tad close to James as he caught some extra drive off the inside line and ditches his bike to avoid a really sore one. Shit happens. Comfortable 5-1 in the end from Josh & Joe in 15 takes all the points though. Looking forward to Berwick and at the very least a point against a team who look pretty strong at home, going by their demolition of Edinburgh a month or so back.

Tigers v Scorpions

2011-05-23T23:11:00.004+01:00

Joe get his bumps. Er, 14+1?? ;p

Josh & Joe head for a match winning 5-1

Grajczonek & Screen from Ben Wilson in heat 15

Tero Aarnio

Michal Rajkowski

Tigers v Scorpions

2011-05-23T22:58:00.002+01:00

Raj

Unsatisfactory whatsit.......

At sixes and sevens

Theo Pijper. Seven (+2) points from 4 rides

Christian Henry, still feeling the effects of his shoulder injury.

Tigers v Scorpions

2011-05-22T22:36:00.001+01:00

Startline preparations

Joe & Theo head for a perfect heat.

Thomas Jorgensen and Steve Worrall from Michal Rajkowski

Joe Screen & David Howe

Heat 1 Joe leads David Howe & Joe Haines, Theo Pijper looks for other options.

Glasgow Tigers 55 Leicester Lions 35 (agg 96-84)

2011-05-19T22:50:00.002+01:00

Joe takes the flag in heat 15

Scores and Heat rundown here. Long hard week and little time on my hands, so no blurb or captions from me, just some pics.

Tigers v Lions

2011-05-17T00:25:00.001+01:00

Tigers v Lions

2011-05-16T23:46:00.003+01:00

Glasgow Tigers v Leicester Lions Heat 14

2011-05-16T22:59:00.000+01:00

Glasgow Tigers 54 Rye House Rockets 36

2011-05-09T21:41:00.002+01:00

Josh Grajczonek, top scorer again for the Tigers.

Another good home outing for the Tigers. Despite a good start for the Tigers in heats 1 & 2 (4-2 & 5-1), Rye House pegged the home side back over the next three heats, Jordan Frampton, Jason Doyle & Chris Neath all looking at home around Ashfield. Ritchie Hawkins turned in two late heat wins as Neath faded.

A few turning points for the Tigers: Josh Grajczonek's bike died on him at the start of heat 7, but he seemed to have no problems with changing to James Grieves' bike and romped off to win the heat. Also, the failure of two consecutive TR's for Rye House loosened any pressure on the home team and ensured full points would got to Glasgow.

Everyone had a more or less decent day. Joe still isn't making the lightening gates he was a few weeks back, but I don't expect that to remain the case for long. With the exception of Josh Grajczonek, nobody made it into double figures, but neither did anyone score less than seven. Good to see Nick Morris scoring a few more than he has been and looking a bit more assured around Ashfield.

Next up, Leicester in the KO Cup.

Tigers v Rockets

2011-05-09T21:25:00.002+01:00

Tigers take their lap of honour

Jason Doyle

Josh heads for another heat win in 13

Queuing up to get into the pits.

Jordan Frampton's bike gives up.

Tigers v Rockets

2011-05-09T21:12:00.002+01:00

Joe Screen

Raj coming through the 1st bend

Jordan Frampton chases Nick Morris in heat 11, prior to his engine letting go.

Joe pops a wheelie as he takes the flag in heat 10

The Tiger returns from his winter in the Maldives

Tigers v Rockets

2011-05-09T21:02:00.003+01:00

Theo chases Ritchie Hawkins

Theo Pijper

Henry & Grieves gate and maintain station for a 5-1 over Rye House pairing of Jason Doyle & Ben Morley

Heat 8. Theo Pijper

First bend action in heat 2. Rajkowski, Hawkins (3), Pijper & Tyson Nelson at the back

Tigers v Rockets

2011-05-09T20:48:00.004+01:00

Josh has a few problems prior to heat 7

Mr McFarlane peruses the programme

Christian Henry from Ritchie Hawkins & James Grieves in heat 3. A poor ride from Grieves which was more than made up for later on.

Michal Rajkokowski leads team mate Nick Morris round for a Tigers 5-1 in heat 2

Jordan Frampton

Glasgow Tigers v Rye House Rockets Heat 14

2011-05-09T01:33:00.000+01:00

Glasgow Tigers 62 Plymouth Devils 31

2011-05-02T21:03:00.004+01:00

Glasgow Tigers took their unbeaten home record to three matches on Sunday with a thorough dismantling of an unfortunate Plymouth Devils side, weakened by the absece of Lee Smart & Jesper Kristiansen. All Tigers had decent paydays, with the exception of an out of sorts Nick Morris. Josh was on fire, Raj, James and Christian picked up where they left off & Theo Pijper finally got a big pay day under his belt. Joe Screen got back on the trail too after Thursday night's setbacks. Sadly for the Devils, only Ben Barker was able to put up much of a fight, dropping only two points all afternoon and getting my 'Rider of the Day' gong. Jason Bunyan is good value at Ashfield, but though he scored well, he didn't quite set the heather on fire this time.

No doubts however that once their home season gets underway in earnest, Plymouth will start to pick up the points. The St Boniface Arena is very tight and could prove a touch too technical for some........

Tigers v Devils

2011-05-02T20:23:00.003+01:00

Barker chases Josh with Screen holding 3rd from a distant Mudgway.

Josh & Joe get between Ben Barker & Jade Mudgway

Heat 12. Raj from Henry, Mudgway & Stephens

Heat 12, 1st running. Rajkowski, Henry & Mudgway enter the bend. Seemond Stephens gates poorly and is already well back.

Rajkowski, Henry & Mudgway head into the 1st bend

Tigers V Devils

2011-05-02T02:27:00.004+01:00

Start of heat 10. Theo & Joe lead into the 1st bend

Christian Henry

James Grieves takes off for the 1st running of heat 9

Theo & Michal take the plaudits for their 5-1 in heat 8.

Jason Bunyan from Josh Grajczonek

Tigers v Devils

2011-05-02T02:14:00.004+01:00

James Grieves holds off the charging Ben Barker.

Joe, Josh & Theo in conference while Robert McNeill attends to the machinery.

Barker chases Grieves

Josh celebrates a heat win

Heat 2 gets under way

Glasgow Tigers 50 Newcastle Diamonds 43

2011-04-25T01:15:00.002+01:00

Joe & Josh head into the 3rd bend ahead of the hard pressing Derek Sneddon. Josh eventually ended up on his arse, but Joe hung on for the two points needed for the full three points.

A good start for the Tigers, but a Newcastle 8 -1 in heat 5 drew the scores back in. As with last week, it was the later heats that decided the points. Raj & Henry took a vital 5-1 in heat 12. Josh & Joe did the business in 13 to take the gap out to nine. The final heat was a beauty, with Lemon gating and going. From there it was down to Joe & Josh to keep out Stuart Robson. Josh tumbled on the last lap, but Joe held on to bring in the points for the Tigers.

Both sides lost reserves early on, with Nick Morris & Richie Worrall succumbing to their heat two bumps. Nick was a definite miss for Glasgow, though fellow reserve Michal Rajkowski covered the bases fairly well. Not the best day out for Theo Pijper or James Grieves, but hell, it's bike racing, they'll be back and it'll be someone elses turn to have a slow day.

Best wishes to the team on Monday. I'll be at Rab Ha's with the rest of the non-travelling Tigers crew. See you there if yr not off to Brough Park.

Tigers v Diamonds

2011-04-25T01:09:00.001+01:00

Tigers v Diamonds

2011-04-25T01:06:00.001+01:00

Glasgow Tigers 50 Berwick Bandits 39

2011-04-19T00:09:00.007+01:00

About the only time Joe looked over his shoulder on Sunday.

Track looks good, beer nearly ran out, nae pies, great weather, team looks fine, big crowd, same old faces, some new faces, Davie still the barman....... See y'all on Sunday...... Proper report & scorecard can be found here courtesy of the Unofficial Tigers site.

Tigers v Bandits

2011-04-18T23:30:00.002+01:00

Bumps for Joe. And everyone else......... ;P

Joe celebrates

As does Josh Final heat 5-1. Joe & Josh from Kozza & Pepe

Tigers v Bandits

2011-04-18T23:25:00.002+01:00

Josef Franc

Nick Morris & James Grieves

Franc leads Grieves, Morris & Mudgway

Jade Mudgway & Christian Henry

Christian Henry & Kozza Smith

Tigers v Bandits

2011-04-18T23:10:00.004+01:00

Christian Henry

Jade Mudgway

Pepe Franc leads Theo Pijper

Lee Complin from Christian Henry

Tigers v Bandits

2011-04-18T23:02:00.001+01:00

Christian Henry & Lee Complin

Theo Pijper

Mudgway from Henry

Christian Henry

Tigers v Bandits

2011-04-18T22:14:00.001+01:00

Grieves leads Mudgway

1st bend action

Rajkowski & Complin

Grieves, Franc and Smith

Jade Mudgway

Practice Day

2011-04-10T22:11:00.006+01:00

Michal Rajkowski

Hi!

Bunch of shots from todays practice session at Ashfield.

Track seems to need a wee bit more work done on it to get it a bit smoother, and the various cosmetic issues are in the process of being dealt with, but it looks like everything should be ready to go next Sunday.

The important thing is that the riders seem to like the track shape and flow of the track.

Also great to see the old faces again. Looking forward to Sunday afternoons again.

Danny ushers Grieves jr back to the pits. James Grieves Joe Screen & Christian Henry

Nick Morris

Theo Pijper

Christian Henry

Press, But No Practice......

2011-04-02T14:58:00.005+01:00

Worms eye view of the 3rd/4th bend

As this goes to press (Always wanted to say that.....!), the provisional date for the first Tigers meeting of the season has been pushed back to the 17th of April against Berwick Bandits. A huge disappointment for all involved. It's been a financial misery for the promotion & riders, and a time of increasing worry for supporters, wondering if the club will indeed have a track at all.

The track work, on the face of it, has been very impressive. A wider track and bends that are now banked up, especially the 3rd/4th bends, (which come scarily close to the bar), bode well for exciting racing. Sadly, the teething troubles have been more than mere niggles. The new perimiter wall looked like it needed finishing and the bar was out of bounds. There's no reason why these shouldn't be sorted by the Practice/Meet The Riders day on the 10th, but the real killer has been the track. A hole in the track on the back straight, and a distinctly 'squidgy' feel to the track surface on the 3rd/4th bend meant there would be no bikes out last Sunday*.

The photo shoots and video interviews went ahead in front of the pits, but the shiny new team Kevlars would be staying that way for the time-being.

Anyway, me & the missus will be up tomorrow for a few hours to lend a hand. Hopefully last Sunday has had the same penny dropping effect on a good few others and

some effective tidy up work can be done while the experts attend to the track problems.

* Apart from Theo's 4 year old son Ace, who put a smile on everyone's faces for a while as he took to the track on his wee bike.

Press Day

2011-04-02T14:28:00.004+01:00

Ace Pijper. Beating his dad to the new Ashfield lap record.......

Ace Pijper gives the track quick try out

Home straight, looking towards 4th bend

1st & 2nd bends

Press Day

2011-04-02T13:31:00.003+01:00

Get yer crampons out for this one....

The 'Press' bit of proceedings goes off without a hitch.........

That's All Folks!

2010-12-04T00:15:00.002Z

Let's face it, that was not a fun season. A few high points, like beating Newcastle & Edinburgh away in the PT, un-earthing Nick Morris, Travis McGowan's performances and the awesome Sky meeting (my first ever 'speedway at the pub' experience, cheers to the ever enthusiastic Bongo & Rab Ha's), were put in the shade by injury, team shuffling, a certain evening in June and another 2nd bottom finish. Boo! Oh, and the racing at Ashfield wasn't much to sing about either.

Now, I'm not one to get too upset at processional racing, I've been used to it for years watching road racing, but spectators of ten years or more have definitely been used to better and the club need to get punters back. If providing exciting racing helps spread the word, all the better.

So, a new track. Banked up bends, a wider back straight and corner entries/exits, even a wider pitch for the football club. My guess is that the back straight will curve very gently creating a sort of 'D' shaped track. With the new track comes a new(ish) team. Out go Lee Dicken, John Branney, Jake Anderson & Travis McGowan, in come Theo Pijper, Christian Henry and Michal Rajkowski and James Grieves, to join up with Joe Screen, Josh Grajczonek & Nick Morris. A strong looking side, packed with riders very much capable of exceeding their averages.

Looks good, canny wait :D

Below, you will find the best five races I managed to capture last season. I only took a dozen or so all year, and missed a fair few good 'uns along the way. The old track had it's moments, let's hope the new Ashfield really delivers the goods.

Just one last thing. Will the third bend terrace still be there?

Cheers!

Ewen

Races of The Year No1

2010-12-03T23:28:00.000Z

One of those races. It seems like everyone was everywhere at some point or other. In reality it boiled down to Josh jumping Clews & Mudgway in the space of two corners & Mudgway rounding both Josh & Nick on the final bend. In short, a cracker. Even one of these per meeting next season would be brilliant ;D

Races of The Year No2

2010-12-03T23:22:00.000Z

Great race between James Grieves & Adrian Rymel for 2nd place

Races of The Year No3

2010-12-03T23:16:00.000Z

A sore one, no doubt, but the Men In Black race was certainly eventful, and the racket these old bikes make, even for 22 seconds, is awesome.

Races of The Year No4

2010-12-03T22:49:00.000Z

Lee Dicken holds off Mark Baseby and Anders Andersen tries his hardest to hold out against Ritchie Hawkins

Races of the Year No5

2010-12-03T22:23:00.000Z

Funky buzzes round Andy Tully to snatch a Glasgow 5-1

James Grieves 20 Year Testimonial: Heat 17 Grand Final Willie Dickson Me...

2010-10-28T21:02:00.000+01:00

Bordernapolis

2010-10-28T18:01:00.000+01:00

As a prelude to a fine night out in Berwick, myself & the missus headed over to Shielfield for the Bordernapolis meeting last Saturday. In spite of the grotty weather, the racing was damn fine. They operated a Handicap system, which produced some excellent racing from those willing to mix it. It was Complin & Fisher in the end, coming down to the last heat to decide the honours. Complin made the best start, keeping Fisher behind him until the flag and taking the meeting by a single point. Jason Lyons took a slightly different approach. Gating in his 1st, 3rd & 5th heats, he took two last places when running from 15 m in his 2nd & 4th, (the handicap for winning yr last race) and took 3rd place by way of having most heat wins, nipping James Wright & Travis McGowan.

A great nights racing, and something a bit different....

James Grieves 20 Years Testimonial

2010-10-26T00:38:00.000+01:00

Freddie Lindgren. God! It looked so much better on the camera display. They always do.....

Jonno does the pit-bike equivelent of the Screenie Wheelie

Mitchell's motocross experience pays off.

Mitchell has some fun in the pit-bike race.

McGowan leads Parker, Wethers & Clews into the 1st Bend

James Grieves 20 Years Testimonial

2010-10-26T00:28:00.000+01:00

Ty Proctor

Peter Karlsson from Ty Proctor

Startline shenanigans

Joe Haines

Lawson, Parker & Haines. McGowan exiting picture

James Grieves 20 Years Testimonial

2010-10-26T00:11:00.000+01:00

Karlsson leads Wethers

Guessing here, but I reckon it's Stozyk from Grieves and Lawson

Katajisto leads Haines & Clews

Kalle Katajisto

Heathersfield Golden Helmet 2010

2010-10-17T21:46:00.000+01:00

Greg Blair receives the 2010 Golden Helmet from 2007 & 2009 winner Gary Beaton.

A decent enough meeting all told, given the grubby weather and overall feeling of winding down at the end of another disappointing season. Gary Irving and Patrick Tarp were the top men over the heats, with the slow starting Greg Blair and James McBain making the last four via the semi-final. Blair roared out of the gate in the final with Irving never really getting close to him and James McBain trailing in third. Tarp's bike failed on the 1st bend. Congratulations to Greg, who knuckled down after a poor start and scored the points when it counted.

Special mentions go to Steven Morris, who looks faster than ever and maybe just needs to get his starts nailed. Sixteen year old Rachel Hellowell also rode pretty well, considering she didn't look entirely at home in the condidtions, as well as having some mechanical gremlins. Her race with Steven Morris for a few laps in heat 10 showed what she's capable of. Dale Lamb took a few races to get going in what looks to be a gentle easing back into the sport after a horrible pelvic injury last year.

Glasgow's first signing for 2011......??

Patrick Tarp

John MacPhaill loses it out of the 4th bend. He was a little sore, but needed no hospital treatment.

Dale Lamb, with Stephen Morris chasing in the background

Dale Lamb, Rachel Hellowell and Gary Irving

James McBain

Dale Lamb

Gary Irving

Stephen Morris

Greg Blair

Greg Blair & John MacPhail after a small get off.
Adam Kenyon, in the process of dropping it at the 3rd bend

Eventual winner Greg Blair during the parade.

Heathersfield Gold Helmet

2010-10-15T21:07:00.000+01:00

This years Junior extravaganza takes place this weekend. Yes! A whole two weeks before the end of October!! Just think, we might even get some decent weather for it.........

Then again, we might not......

This year the competition will be missing Gary Beaton, who sadly broke his back some weeks back. He's up and about wearing a brace, but it does look to all intents and purposes like he's chucking it for good. Still, the phrase "Never say never" was invented for speedway riders, so we'll just leave it at that for now.... ;)

The line-up so far seems to be:

Greg Blair
James Cartmell
Tom Hill
Gary Irving
Adam Kenyon
Dale Lamb
James McBain
John MacPhail
Steven Morris
Patrick Tarp
Steve Worrall
Adam Wrathall

An excellent and detailed run-down of the riders can be found at the Unofficial Glasgow Speedway site.

This is, of course, minus the four American touring riders being talked about last weekend. Would be good to see them, but even if they don't materialise, that's still a fairly strong field of National League standard riders, with a sprinkling of amateurs to add interest further down the field. Watch out for Dane Patrick Tarp, who visited with Team Viking last season. I've a wee feeling he'll go quite well.

So, get yr erses along, it's only a tenner in (12-15 yrs - £7, Concessions - £4)

See y'all inside!

Glasgow Tigers 41 Sheffield Tigers 48

2010-10-11T22:41:00.000+01:00

Nick coming in after his Heat 14 win

Photos are worse than normal this week. A covering of low cloud enveloped Scotland all weekend, making things extremely gloomy and difficult for shooting speeding objects. Here's a selection of the least shit ones to be going on with.....

Ricky Ashworth, chased by Nick Morris

James McBain

John Branney hunts down Ricky Ashworth

Sunday saw a sparse crowd for what was a totally post-cut off league meeting.

Tigers 51 Monarchs 35

2010-10-04T22:02:00.000+01:00

Sadly, this heavily altered photo is the only shot I got of Jade Mudgeway, who stepped in for the injured Lee Dicken at No7. The original shot is a blurry mess, but I've managed to salvage something out of it with the help of a photo editor. I'm a big fan of this guy, a real tryer, great style and he loves fast tracks. It's worth a visit to Berwick just to watch him attack the bends there in an almost longtrack style. Sadly he came a cropper at the 2nd bend in heat 14, attempting the Sandi Conda line. Like Sandi, he never made it..... It seems he sustained bruised kidneys and a chipped coccyx. All the best to him and hope to see him back very soon. Also best wishes to Andy Tully, who took a trip to the hospital after crashing in heat 4, sustaining a broken arm.

Talking of walking wounded, Gary Beaton, whose horrible crash some weeks back had many of us a bit worried, was back at Ashfield again. Hope the recovery goes well and we see him riding again in the not too distant future.

Tigers take a sixteen point advantage to Armadale this Friday evening. Is it enough? Some would contend that even a lead double the size wouldn't be enough, We'll see, shall we?

Ryan Fisher leading Shane Parker

Travis heads into the early evening sunlight, on for another heat win.

Josh Grajczonek

Josh gets a last minute squirt of lube on his chain.

George, the Ashfield Cowboy. Best of luck to Geo in Poland, as well as the rest of the Tigers contingent making their way across to the GP.

"Almost got him"

John Branney in pursuit of Willie Lawson

Tractor Boys, Josh & Danny

Travis swings wide, in front of William Lawson & John Branney

3rd Bend Kids Flag

Nick Morris. Not a great day, with various bike issues. Great win in heat 12 on Joshes bike

Josh gets the better of Fisher

Mathew Wethers

Glasgow Tigers V Kings Lynn Stars

2010-09-12T22:33:00.000+01:00

Kozza Smith

The Tigers team take their lap of honour, minus the injured Lee Dicken

Josh Grajczonek

Nick Morris

Chris Mills from Nick Morris & Jake Anderson

Jake Anderson

McGowan from Topinka & Anderson

Josh Grajczonek

Travis McGowan

McGowan (Heading out of picture) followed by Cal McDade, Tomas Topinka & Lee Dicken. McDade spun it on the 4th bend, with Dicken colliding with the stricken rider & his bike. Both riders were ultimately alright.

Spare Stuff From Diamonds & Monarchs Meetings

2010-09-10T00:27:00.000+01:00

Travis leads Josh & Kenni Larsen

Sneddon, Anderson & Grajczonek

Travis McGowan

Diamonds pairing of Larsen & Sneddon duel with Travis McGowan

Josh Grajczonek

Ryan Fisher

John Braney, Nick Morris & Adam McKinna

1st bend

Lee Dicken. Not a good shot at all, but interesting in that it demonstrates Lee riding one handed. He could be about to reach for a tear off on his helmet, but it might also be that he's giving his injured thumb a brief respite. Needless to say, lee shouldn't really have been riding, having declared in the programme that he would be resting up. Injuries to our guests at Berwick the previous night put paid to that notion.

Andy Tully, snapped as he made his way to the dressing rooms.

Tigers v Monarchs Heat 15 (2nd Attempt)

2010-09-06T22:21:00.000+01:00

Tigers v Monarchs Heat 15 (1st attempt)

2010-09-06T22:17:00.000+01:00

Glasgow Tigers V Edinburgh Monarchs

2010-09-06T21:53:00.000+01:00

Travis takes a look under Kevin Wolbert

Impressive Edinburgh reserve Ashley Morris pursues Jake Anderson

Ryan Fisher

Travis McGowan

Glasgow V Edinburgh Random Pics

2010-09-06T21:20:00.000+01:00

James McBain

Jason Lyons

The Tiger shares his Buckfast with the Emerdales

The missus puts on her best cheeser. Diane, Allison & Lauren

Michael Max has just heard that Alan Dick intends to pay Lee Complin in empty Irn Bru bottles.

Glasgow Tigers v Edinburgh Monarchs

2010-09-05T23:53:00.001+01:00

2nd half action

Lee Complin, Glasgow's star guest

Complin chases Fisher in a distinctly iffy, yet rather enjoyable shot.

Katajisto & Wolbert on a 5-1

Jake Anderson watches proceedings after his fall

Nick Morris leads Andy Tully

Nick & Andy into the 1st bend

Riders prepare to be introduced

Hello. Apologies for the shite photos. They're alright I suppose, but I can do better. I'll post up some more tomorrow.

Glasgow Tigers v Newcastle Diamonds

2010-08-29T22:30:00.000+01:00

A very young 2nd half rider gives the Ashfield shale a try

Travis McGowan

Kenni Larsen

Nick & Travis in conference

John Branney gets a shale shower

Dakota North leads Travis McGowan

Lee Dicken loses it a bit on the 4th bend

Derek Sneddon & Dakota North lead Lee Dicken & Jake Anderson. Sadly for the Tigers, this was to be a very common sight this afternoon.

Nick Morris

Josh from Nick Morris

Jake Anderson

Travis McGowan

Glasgow Tigers V Berwick Bandits Heat 12

2010-08-23T01:40:00.000+01:00

Nick Morris & Josh Grajczonek battle it out with Jade Mudgway. After much position swapping, Mudgway finally nails the 3points with an amazing drive round the outside of the last bend.

Almost missed the finish due to over-excited Berwick fans in front of me, but who could blame them... ;) Great race and a well deserved win for Mudgway.

Glasgow Tigers 42 Berwick Bandits 48

2010-08-22T23:31:00.000+01:00

Marcin Rempala

Mitchell Davey

Adrian Rymel leads the pack

Alex Davies

Marcin Rempala's bike after Travis had collided with it.

Joe Screen from Marcin Rempala

Travis McGowan

Two No 5's. Josh Grajczonek from Lee Complin

Joe & Lee lead a brief 5-1

Armadale Snaps

2010-08-16T23:05:00.000+01:00

A bunch of shots taken during this years visits to the Skip-Dome. They scrub up ok I think.

George Stancl Farewell Meeting.

2010-08-16T21:23:00.000+01:00

George Stancl will be having his farewell meeting at Newcastle on 27th September, and he's got a rather good website up to promote it. Some great photos and plenty of info about the career of this well liked Czech. I hope to travel down, finances permitting, for this meeting.

All the best George, hope the crowd and weather make for a decent meeting.