Tigers took a break from league racing with an Individual meeting the Red Revolution Open. Unfortunately due to Workington re-arranging their match withSomerset, the field was some what decimated although at least a full compliment of riders was present.
Heats 1-4: Kozza Smith won the opening heat with Jacobs and Dyer swapping positions a couple of times on the opening lap, finishing that way
Andre Compton made a good start in heat 2 and led for a lap before Gathercole got past after a mistake.
Doolan comfortably won heat 3 and James Grieves did like wise in heat 4. .
Leaders: Smith 3, Gathercole 3, Doolan 3, Grieves 3
Heats 5-8: Gathercole blasted round Smith in the opening bends, with Kozza looking a bit hairy finishing second. Another quick start for Compton won him heat 6, whilst Dyer used the outside line to great effect to round Grieves and Doolan in heat 7 while the two battled for a couple of laps without a change. Bager passed Roynon on the 4th bend and won easily in heat 8.
Leaders: Gathercole 6,Compton5, Grieves 5, Smith 5
Heats 9-12:Comptontried to jump start and got left although he passed Nielsen at the end of the opening lap. Doolan and Smith were well clear at the front.
Heat 10 saw a couple of re-runs with James Grieves and then Joe Jacobs falling, the latter excluded. Gathercole easily won the third staging, Kurtz a surprise second.
Heat 11 and it looked like Dyer was going to blast around everyone on the outside but picked up too much grip and had to bail out on the second bend. After fence repairs Roynon was first to show but almost came down on the fourth bend, which allowed Raun and Haines to pass.
Andre Compton announced as new signing.
Heat 12 was another easy win for Henning.
Leaders: Gathercole 9, Smith 7, Doolan 7, Bager 6
Dyer and Anderson withdrew from the meeting, injured and engine problems respectively
Heats 13-16: Easy win for Smith in 13, whilst Doolan got the better of Roynon early on in heat 14, Gathercole had another easy heat 15 win, while heat 16 provided the best race of the day. Grieves led until Bager passed on the inside of the 4th bend, James then got into trouble on the second bend and bothCompton and Raun passed.
Leaders: Gathercole 12, Doolan 10, Smith 10, Bager 9
Heats 17-20
Heat 17 was another good race, Grieves passed Roynon on the third and fourth bend only for Smith to pass both of them, James gave chase but didn’t have the speed.
Raun continued his good form with a good win in heat 18, whilstComptonwon a match race from Kurtz in 19
It was all down to the final race and Doolan made the start, Henning slipped into second but more importantly Gathercole was last behind Haines. He tried a couple of times to pass him but finished last. This meant Doolan won on race wins, with Smith second and Gathercole third.
Full Scorers: Kevin Doolan 13, Kozza Smith 13, Cory Gathercole 12, Henning Bager 11, Andre Compton 11, Jonas Raun 9, James Grieves 8, Joe Haines 8, Todd Kurtz 7, Adam Roynon 7, Simon Nielsen 6, Joe Jacobs 5, Micky Dyer 4, Jake Anderson 3, Tommy Fenwick 1, Patrick Nagy 1
Favourite Kevin Doolan won the meeting although Cory Gathercole will be kicking himself having only to finish second in the last heat to win. Smith at times didn’t look in control but rode well for his runner up spot. Two Tigers were next with Henning having his best home match of the season. New signing, Andre Compton looked good and was easily the best of the unattached riders. Adam Roynon improved as the meeting wore on, as did Jonas Raun. Patrick Nagy found the going tough whilst Dyer did well to avoid serious injury after piling into the fence.
The varying levels of riders didn’t produce the most exciting of meetings but that was mainly due to the Workington re-arranged meeting. If nothing else it allowed new signingComptonto prove he could be a useful signing and gave Henning a boost after a bad run of home form.