[see Match report below]
This afternoon’s Knock Out Cup tie against Rye House Rockets was rain abandoned after 8 heats with a scoreline at that stage of 23-25 – the result does not stand and we await agreement on a restaging date, inclusive of a re arranged visit to Rye House.
Anders Thomsen has been released from hospital with an x-ray suggesting his left ankle is NOT broken as was first suspected. He will miss our trip to Scunthorpe this Friday however has already declared that he will ride next Sunday!
Thank you for your patience this afternoon and for your continued support.
**Match report**
Glasgow 23 Rye House 25 KOC 1st Rd, 1st leg. MATCH ABANDONED result does not stand.
It never rains but it pours was an apt description for Ashfield this afternoon as the cup tie with the Rockets was brought to a premature end.
A shower before the start delayed the meeting by 30 minutes and it was the Rockets who struck an early blow with an easy 5-1 from Edward Kennett and Luke Bowen. Kevin Wolbert retired with bike trouble while Anders Thomsen nursed his machine round for the point.
Worse was to follow for Thomsen in heat 2 ,after passing both Rockets coming out of bend 4 he seemed to make slight contact with Jason Garrity down the straight which may have caused him to get the next corner wrong and he slid off. It looked innocuous but it was soon apparent he had hurt his foot with the possibility of a broken ankle. After a delay for the ambulance it was Jason Garrity who won the re run ahead if Kasper.
Tigers took their first heat win with Theo Pijper in the next but the heat was shared. Rusty Harrison won heat 4 from Tresarrieu with Kasper getting the better of Hopwood. It was all square after heat 5 when both Mark Lemon and Pijper gated with Kennett making a hash of the first bend. There was some unusual team riding in the opening laps before the Tigers sorted themselves out.
Kevin rode a great first two bends to win heat 6 but Kasper, despite a fine chase was at the back. Heat 7 was very similar with Rusty winning this time but another 3-3 kept the scores level. It started to rain as heat 8 got underway and a fine race it was with Garrity leading but with Bowen and Kasper on his tail. The latter two were passing each other at will until Kasper got the better of him at the end of the third lap. An outside pass of Garrity down the back straight was just foiled. 23-25 but with the rain not going off the inevitable abandonment soon followed and both legs will need to be rearranged.
Tigers will be the happier of the two sides but only due to being down to 5 riders. With two riders now potentially missing, Tigers don’t have their troubles to seek or that many points to play with!!!
Glasgow : Wolbert 3, Berge R/R (1), Lemon 3, Pijper 5+1, Harrison 6, Nielsen 5, Thomsen 1