David McAllan - A Few Words

As I mentioned a few days back, sad news reached Tigers fans on Friday night. David McAllan, who had suffered a spinal injury in the penultimate league meeting of the season against Birmingham, looks to have ridden his last. The crowd at the STARs evening at Firhill were gutted, and to be honest, it left me in mild shock to discover the extent of his problems. His recovery seems to have hit a brick wall and he still lacks feeling in his legs. It seems there are also other complications which impinge somewhat on his quality of life and at this stage, speedway is probably the last thing on David's agenda.

I started attending speedway at Ashfield for the first time this year, and it was David's early season performances that caught my eye. On his day, he was ruddy fast, as demonstrated by his near miss at Shane Parkers track record. It obviously inspired 'The Messiah' because he went out on his next ride and broke his previous best time, ensuring he remained top dog around Ashfield for at least another season.

David didn't have much of the luck this year. Battered and bruised on numerous occassions, he kept bouncing back and even if his gating let him down, like Big Lee Dicken he always rode his backside off to try and regain parity. Sometimes he maybe tried too hard, and fell victim to the odd un-forced error. One race that sticks out in my mind was against Redcar in September. In his previous outing he'd failed to gate and was stuck at the back for the full four laps. Second time out, he repeated his bad start, but set about finding his way through the traffic, picking off Chris Kerr and Dan Giffard. By the end of lap 2, he was right on team mate Craig Watsons rear tyre and looked to be hunting for a way through. On the last bend he got it, much to the astonishment of myself and a few of those around me. If David had the pace on his team mate, he never seemed happy to sit behind, he always looked like he wanted through. The sight of him hurtling into the first bend with his bike at an improbable angle, due in part to his low slung handlebars, was often breathtaking.

Alas, consistency was a problem. Sometimes the machinery failed him (as it does with many riders), sometimes he was unlucky with falls and sometimes his gating just wasn't quite on the money. At 27 however, I think there were many good years in him and there can be nothing sadder than losing the prescence of an articulate, popular and entertaining rider who was, in my opinion, yet to peak.*

A benefit meeting for David will take place at some point this season, along with a handful of other events. It's important that the sport David put so much into does it's bit to say thankyou and make his short-term future a little more financially secure. The notion of a benefit season for him, to my mind, is entirely justified. All I can say is that I hope he continues along the road to a general recovery and that we all see the wee man back someday at Ashfield, even if it is on the wrong side of the barriers.

*As previously stated, I've only been watching the Tigers for a season, so someone else may have a better or different perspective on David's Career, especially in relation to his potential.