Glasgow 36 Edinburgh 54 (Premier League- Sunday 14th September 2014)
Edinburgh duly wrapped up top spot in the play off qualifying table, with a routine win against a Tigers team who looked as if they knew without the injured Rusty Harrison that they had little chance of winning or even making a match of it.
Edinburgh as usual were at full strength, while as usual, Glasgow had a guest at reserve and R/R!!
Craig Cook sped to an easy heat 1 victory and it looked like the perfect start for the Monarchs with Justin Sedgmen in second until Theo Pijper passed him at the end of the opening lap, which is how it finished although Vicor Palovaara wasn’t too far away in 4th.
Tigers best hope was the reserve race and Mason Campton took an easy win. Behind him Kasper Lyyke quickly passed Aaron Fox on the opening bends and set after Derek Sneddon. The Scot blocked all attempts until Lyyke drove up the inside coming out of the 2nd bend on the last lap and they were neck and neck down the back straight. Lyyke just having the drop into the third bend and hung on for the 5-1.
Despite a reasonable gate from Kevin Wolbert, it was Steve Worrall who took heat 3 with Max Fricke stopping Wolbert’s run around the outside on the back straight. Fricke holding on comfortably to regain the lead with a 5-1 for the visitors.
Tigers surprisingly opted to use Theo Pijper as R/R in heat 4 but Sam Masters made another quick gate to take the win. Mason Campton tried to go around Sneddon coming out of the second bend but had the door firmly closed on him. He was unable to pass Sneddon although the Edinburgh captain was all over the place trying to block him.
Tigers thought they had a chance in heat 5 when Cook touched the tapes and went off 15m but in the end all that it did was help his partner Sedgmen move off the graveyard gate 1. He took full advantage and despite Tero Aarnio and Wolbert sitting in 2nd and 3rd , inevitably Cook picked them both off on the 4th bend in successive laps to increase the lead to 8.
Theo finally got out the gate to take heat 6 ahead of Masters with Palovaara passing Fox on the second lap to cut the gap to 6.
Heat 7 was a superb race and as usual Kasper Lyyke was involved in it !! It looked another easy 1-5 with Worrall and Fricke making the start, Lyyke having to pass his team mate at the end of lap one. He then chased down the Monarchs who werent going particularly fast but Fricke was fending off his challenges well. Going into the last lap Lyyke almost got around Fricke on the 1st/2nd bend and with Worrall getting slower, he tried the same move on the 3rd/4th bends, this time trying to go past both of them. He just failed to beat Worrall to the line but did split them for the 2-4.
Tigers may have been happier if he hadn’t got second place as it stopped the TR in heat 8, which Pijper won from Sedgmen who kept him honest throughout. At the back, Sneddon was again fending off Lyyke but there were no last lap heroics this time, despite Kasper’s charge up the inside of the last bend.
Kevin Wolbert finally made a start in heat 9 and won with ease from Masters with Tero Aarnio getting the better of Fox and the gap was back to 6.
The Fricke/Worrall pairing were back out in heat 10 but couldn’t extend the visitors lead as Worrall, off gate 1, could do little to stop both Pijper and Palovaara going around him on the first bend. Fricke taking the win.
Heat 11 looked ominous with Cook and Sedgmen out again and Tigers probably expected to lose a 5-1 but elected to use Wolbert off the dreaded gate 1 as R/R which made things worse. He didn’t make the start which allowed Sedgmen and Cook to lead with Lyyke passing him shortly after. The Dane gave chase to Cook but never really threatened and with Sedgmen winning, Edinburgh were now 12 up.
Tigers had one chance left with the TR in heat 12 with Wolbert but yet again he was off the inside. He didn’t make a bad start getting into second behind Fricke but allowed Sneddon to pass him on the inside of bend 2, with Campton also getting past. Campton then rounded Sneddon down the home straight and that was the way it finished, Edinburgh securing the point they needed to top the table.
With Glasgow using Theo Pijper as R/R early on, heat 13 looked a certain 1-5 and that’s the way it turned out with Masters and Cook beating Lykke and Palovaara. Cook passing his partner to become the only rider to win off gate 1!!!
Heat 14 was shaping up for another 1-5 after the opening two bends but Lyyke passed Worrall to resume his dual with Sneddon who was leading. Two races in one quickly developed with most eyes on the leading pair. Again Sneddon, looking nothing like the rider who struggled guesting for Glasgow recently, hung on for the win.It looked like another 4-2 but Aarnio, who had hit the fence on the second bend of the last lap, appeared from nowhere to round Worrall off the last bend and beat him to the line.
Cook wrapped up his maximum in heat 15 with Pijper in second. Fricke took third but only after passing Lyyke at the end of the first lap. The 4-2 giving a score of 54-36.
With R/R only scoring 3 points, nowhere near Rusty’s usual score, Glasgow did well to keep themselves still in the match at heat 10. Unfortunately Theo Pijper wasn’t due out again until heat 15 and Tigers lost the next 4 heats 17-7. Even with Rusty scoring like he did in the previous fixture, Glasgow still would’ve lost although it would’ve been closer.
Craig Cook scored an easy maximum and every other rider apart from the scoreless Fox won a heat.for the visitors.
Tigers will hope for another encounter in the cup with maybe a full team for once, while Edinburgh will hope their injury “luck” holds as they go into the play-offs for the title.
Glasgow: Palovaara 2+1, Pijper 14, Wolbert 4, Aarnio 3+1, Harrison R/R, Lyyke 8+1, Campton(G) 5
Edinburgh: Cook 13+2, Sedgmen 9, Fricke 10+1, Worrall 6, Masters 9+1, Fox 0, Sneddon 7+1
<Match report by Derek Watson>