On Sunday, James Grieves became the first Scottish rider to win the Ashfield Classic meeting. He slotted in nicely behind Elite League rider Rory Schlein to take one of the first two 'Grand Final' places, his reward for three wins and two second places during the meeting. Schlein however, looked to be on another planet, going through the qualifying card undefeated.
The semi final took place between Carl Stonehewer, James Wright, Shane Parker and Tomas Topinka. Parker made his way through to 2nd place early in the race and held position behind Stoney. It looked very much like Stoney was enjoying himself again at one of his favourite hunting grounds, taking the flag and along with Parker, the last remaining places in the final heat.
It had been a pretty decent meeting, all told. Maybe not on a par with the thrills dished up to us by Filip Sitera last year, but Stoney pulled off an astounding move thrugh the 1st & 2nd bends in one heat, and Shane seemed to be in a fairly racey mood throughout. New Tigers signing Peter Juul got some competitive track time, and didn't look too bad at all, taking a win and two thirds. Lee Dicken claimed a few scalps, beating EL rider David Howe to take a heat win, as well as holding off Tomas Topinka for a third place. The rest of the Tigers representatives faired reasonably well. Mitchell looked good in his first heat with a 2nd place, but poor gating saw him out of sorts for the rest of the meeting. Robert and Trent did ok, with 8 and 7 respectively.
The final was something of a disappointment as far as the racing was concerned, though I was overjoyed with the result, as were a fair few others. Three Ashfield specialists going head on with an EL hotshot should have made for a eal elbow banger, but it was probably one of the more pedestian heats of the day. Grieves gated, Schlein got stuck behind Stoney for a few laps before passing and Shane trundled in at the rear. James was too far in front to be troubled though, and he was able to enjoy his last few laps in peace as the flag (and the sun) went down on another Classic.
Congratulations to James, a rider I've come to enjoy immensely when he rides at Ashfield, whether as a guest or for his current club Redcar. A brilliant gate in the final and a composed ride to the flag seeing him take the £1000 1st prize and the Norrie Isbister trophy.
Ashfield Classic Final.
Grieves, Schlein, Stonehewer, Parker
You wait three seasons for a ruddy trophy and then two come along at once.....
