With both teams making the Scottish Cup final again(!), Tigers put the last of their titles from 2011 up for grabs.
Josh Grajczonek was in for Joe with David Bellego replacing Anders. Monarchs had Craig Cook out due to illness with Matthew Wethers moving from reserve to no1 and track expert Nikki Barratt coming in at no 7. The teams looked evenly matched but it didn’t work out that way!!!
Glasgow 58: Ringwood 11+3, Grajczonek 11, Grieves 10+1, Bellego 10+1, North 7+1, Bager 6+2, Jacobs 3+1
Edinburgh 35: Pijper 15, Wethers 8+1, Vissing 7, Tabaka 2, Barratt 2, Sneddon 1, Fenwick 0
Heat 1: Both Monarchs gated with Henning a close third and Josh at the back. Both Tigers got in each others road in the first lap but after a Bager inside challenge on Sneddon at the end of lap 2, Josh managed to pass him and finally got around Sneddon on bend 2 lap 4. 2-4
Heat 2: Tigers gate with Joey leading, Barratt is surprisingly in third and never mounted a challenge. 7-5
Heat 3: Again it’s Glasgow who show first with Bellego leading, James is a comfortable second, Pijper third and it finishes that way. 12-6
Heat 4: Vissing makes the start but makes a second bend error and both Tigers pass him. Joey winning from Dakota. 17-7
Heat 5: James gets a flier in the first running and it looked equally dubious in the rerun but the referee let it go. Wethers on a TR, settled into second but had Bellego all over him and he eventually gets past on the second lap for another maximum. 22-8
Heat 6: it’s another easy 5-1 from Josh and Henning over a disinterested looking Vissing and Tigers are incredibly 27-9 up!!!
Heat 7: Pijper on a TR takes an easy win but behind him Dakota tries everything to get past Tabaka, finally managing it on the third lap 29-16
Heat 8: Monarchs all of a sudden seemed to be interested with both Sneddon and Barratt leading the way. Going into the third bend Barratt went wide allowing Henning through just as Sneddon fell awkwardly just ahead of him. The rerun easily went Tigers way 5-1. 34-17
Heat 9: David jumps the start and the race is restarted. He makes the start with Vissing and Grieves close behind. James tries the outside but the visibly slower Vissing holds him off, blocking his back straight outside run on lap 2. This causes James to try a wide blast around bend 3 but he almost falls off and has to settle for third. A slowing Bellego just holds Vissing off for the win. Vissing and James have a ” discussion ” after the race in the pits 38-19
Heat 10: It’s Pijper again with Josh and Henning behind him. That’s the way it finished. 41-22
Heat 11: A win for Dakota with Wethers pushing hard on the inside, coming close to going over the white line on lap 2 on the 4th bend. Joe is an easy third over Sneddon. 45-24
Heat 12: Two maximums were swiftly blown after Pijper took another win from David and Joey, Barratt a poor last. 48-27
Heat 13: Vissing, who has come alive since the track got slicker and Wethers lead with Josh hot on their tails. Vissing was going slow and Josh ‘ s wide line seemed to have taken him ahead of Wethers on lap 2 but Wethers used the inside on bend 4 to retake second. Josh continued to try around the outside but Wethers just held him off. 49-32
Heat 14: Tigers quickly respond with their own 5-1 with James and Joey. Tabaka ends a poor day finishing third.
54-33
Heat 15: Pijper makes a good start but makes a mistake on the second bend allowing Josh through. James gets close on the first two laps but Pijper gradually pulls away 58-35
Tigers knew they had a good chance of finally winning but they couldn’t have expected to win so easily. The first half of the meeting was similar to the league cup tie in May except it was the Monarchs who were on the wrong end of successive 5-1s. Edinburgh looked like they had other things on their mind and Tigers took full advantage. Joey was again top scorer only dropping a point as did David Bellego but every Glasgow rider was paid for a heat win. Monarchs badly missed Cook and may regret not using R/R keeping Wethers at reserve. Pijper and Wethers rode well, whilst Vissing had two good and three poor rides.
Tigers have a 23 point lead for the second leg but can’t be complacent as two of their three defeats at Armadale this season have been by bigger margins..
<report by Derek Watson>