Tigers Win Pairs Championship

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

Glasgow Tigers 50 Berwick Bandits 39

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.

Glasgow Tigers 48 Coventry Bees 45

An (ever so slightly) under strength Bees came up against an (ever so slightly) top heavy Tigers in this interesting inter-league friendly. Coventry were missing Chris Harris and had been looking to utilise the services of their No 8 rider Ex Monarch Aaron "Anne" Summers. Alas, with Birmingham running a re-scheduled match against Stoke on the same day, Birmingham were left with no option but to run with Glasgow No 8 & new Buxton rider James McBain at reserve. James rode gamely enough, but I'm hoping he'll be a different rider nearer the end of the season with a competitive season under his belt. Whilst Coventry had been weakened, Glasgow seemed to have gone in the opposite direction. They now boasted three heat leaders, with Joe Screen guesting alongside Travis McGowan & James Grieves, with Lee Dicken dropping to reserve to share a couple of rides with Mitchell Davey.

In the end though, it was fairly tight. James Grieves still hadn't got over Friday nights shenanigans at Armadale, both mechanically & physically, and could only post a couple of points. The two No7 reserves conjured up four points between them & Jamie Courtney only managed a heat two 2nd place. The difference was Joe Screens 15 pt maximum, Josh & Travis pulling in 9 & a healthy start to the season for Robert Ksiezak, with 7 points. Oh, and Coventry never really getting going. Barker & Kennett broke double figures, and Josh Auty was impressive from reserve, but Heffenbrock & Schlein had poor afternoons. Filip Sitera pulled in an unspectacular six points, changed days from a few years back when he rode the boards all the way to the final in the Ashfield Classic.

So, all very good signs for the coming season. I'll reserve making too many judgements until the first truly competitive racing of the season though.

No, not the PT..........

We've got a daft spring stuck to a bit of balsa wood to defend next weekend you know.......

Tigers riders after the match, loitering with intent by the looks of it..........

It took him a few laps to stop and take his bumps. The rest of the team get some training in for the day Big Lee gets his max..... :P

Joe, how about a wheelie marathon for Sport Relief?

Scorecards & proper meeting reports can be found at the following sites, and my thanks to them for providing post meeting info, without which this blog would simply be a bunch of photographs of questionable quality. I have crap eyesight and a poor memory, so I need all the help I can get.....

Unofficial Glasgow Speedway

Official Glasgow Tigers

Glasgow Tigers V Coventry Bees

Final Heat. Screen & McGowan lead Bees pairing of Ben Barker & Rory Schlein. Travis got mugged a bit by the Coventry pair, but Screen never looked likely to lose the lead. Tigers 48, Bees 45.

Joe Screen accepts the applause from the Tigers supposrt. A flawless 15 point maximum from a hero of world & British speedway. I think this is what Michael Max was raving about at one point during the meeting..... Screen Machine In Poland

Travis McGowan at speed through the 3rd bend. I'm a sucker for the 'speed blur' effect. Most half decent photographers call it 'out of focus'..............

A bit murky this shot, but I like it a lot. Still not quite at ease with the old fella's camera.

Another slightly rough shot. Chosen mainly for the reactions of the spectators on the 1st bend as they get a bit of a face-full, courtesy of the 1st lap dust storm. Looks like Kennett (TR) & Sitera for the Bees & Lee & Josh for the Tigers. As I recall, this was a 1-8 for the visitors, setting up something of a grandstand finish.

Travis McGowan comes through the 2nd bend. A solid nine points was a definite improvement on Friday nights run out at Armadale in the Scottish Open. Two duck eggs book-ended the day though.

Mitchell Davey. Mitch had a bit of an off day, however, it has to be taken into consideration that he only had two rides (along with Lee). He'll get more rides on other days and really should break the four point barrier and move onto better things.

Josh celebrates another heat win. Looks like he was raring to go & really enjoying his racing.

Josh & Lee hold of Rory Schlein & Josh Auty in heat 4. After this one, I just had a feeling it would be a good day at the office for the Tigers.

Heat 2: Josh Auty is out of shot and well on his way to winning the race.Jamie Courtney & Mitchell davey hold station ahead of Bees last minute replacement for Aaron Summers, James McBain. The Glasgow No 8 did as well as could be expected against a good quality field, but could only make up the numbers. Best of luck to him & Nick Morris this season when they ride for Buxton in the National League.