The 2016 season got underway with an entertaining match and unlucky defeat against Elite League Coventry.
The Bees had to resort to double points and a disastrous heat 12 for the home side, handed the visitors the victory.
A heavy shower bang on 3pm made a sodden track even wetter and the early heats were mostly from the starts. Richard Lawson got caught out on the opening heat slipping to third, allowing Richie Worral a debut win.
Danny Ayres rounded Liam Carr on the opening bends to win heat 2, with Coty Garcia third, although never far away from Carr.
Danny King picked up the first heat win for the visitors in heat 3 but James Sarjeant fell whilst at the back.
Aaron Summers then did well to hold off GP star Chris Harris as Tigers extended their lead to 6.
This was still the gap after heat 7 before Danny Ayres became an instant hero in heat 8, when he chased and passed Liam Carr, with the two of them wheel to wheel down the backstraight on the third lap. With Worrall winning, Tigers were 8 up.
Martin Knuckey fell whilst in second, on a 5-1, after Ben Barker put him under some pressure and then Tigers took another 4-2 in heat 10, with King dropping his only point to Lawson to go 10 up.
This allowed a TR for Krzysztof Kasprzak in heat 11 but he had to give second best to Summers, who just held him off for the win. Fernando Garcia was a lively third after attempting to round KK on the opening bends of the race.
Heat 12 was to prove the downfall of the Tigers but not before Knuckey broke the tapes and went off 15m. In the re-run, Ayres clipped the fence attempting to round King and then Barker fell on the third bend. The referee deeming neither were under power when the red light went on. The resulting 5-0 cut Tigers lead in half.
Coventry then took their expected 5-1 in heat 13 to cut the gap to one.
Worse was to follow in heat 14 when after a thrilling race, Lunna was about to round Sarjeant on the final bend for the win, when his engine stopped, gifting the vistors a 4-2 and a one point lead.
With the heat 13 Coventry duo back out again, it looked a tall order for Lawson and Worrall to gain the heat advantage to take the win and so it proved although the Tigers duo managed to block out KK to share the heat.
The weather did spoil the early part of the match, with the track taking a few heats to dry out but there were glimpses that it could be an exciting Tigers side in 2016.
Of the new boys, Man of the Match Danny Ayres certainly looked like he will be a racer and Nike Lunna again showed a liking for Ashfield. Richie Worrall was well worth his paid 11, while Coty Garcia improved as the track dried out. Ben Barker was unlucky to be excluded when he probably would’ve had 4 seconds. With the top two from last year also scoring vital points it looks good for the home side.
Coventry had the expected good scores from Bomber Harris, King and Kasprzak although former Tiger Sarjeant didnt have the best of days.
Tigers will rue those last few heats but it has set them up well for the official matches starting next week against League Cup holders Edinburgh.
Glasgow Tigers 45 Coventry Bees 46 Inter League Challenge 27th March 2016 Glasgow Tigers Richard Lawson 1 2 3 1 2 9 Richie Worrall 3 1* 3 1 1* 9 + 2 Ben Barker 2 2 2 Fx 6 Nike Lunna 1* 1* 1* 0 3 + 3 Aaron Summers 3 2 3 0 8 Fernando Garcia 1 1* 1 2 5 + 1 Danny Ayres 3 1 1 Fx 5 Coventry Bees Krzysztof Kasprzak R 3 4^ 2* 0 9 + 1 Kacper Woryna 2 0 2 0 4 Danny King 3 3 2 3 11 James Sarjeant F 0 R 3 3 Chris Harris 2 3 3 3 3 14 Martin Knuckey 0 0 0 2* 2 + 1 Liam Carr 2 0 0 1 3 Heat 1 - Richie Worrall ; Kacper Woryna ; Richard Lawson ; Krzysztof Kasprzak(R) ; 59.9 (4-2)(4-2) Heat 2 - Danny Ayres ; Liam Carr ; Fernando Garcia ; Martin Knuckey ; 63.6 (4-2)(8-4) Heat 3 - Danny King ; Ben Barker ; Nike Lunna ; James Sarjeant(F) ; 59.9 (3-3)(11-7) Heat 4 - Aaron Summers ; Chris Harris ; Danny Ayres ; Liam Carr ; 60.9 (4-2)(15-9) Heat 5 - Krzysztof Kasprzak ; Ben Barker ; Nike Lunna ; Kacper Woryna ; 61.0 (3-3)(18-12) Heat 6 - Chris Harris ; Richard Lawson ; Richie Worrall ; Martin Knuckey(Frmt) ; 60.1 (3-3)(21-15) Heat 7 - Danny King ; Aaron Summers ; Fernando Garcia ; James Sarjeant(Frmt) ; 60.6 (3-3)(24-18) Heat 8 - Richie Worrall ; Kacper Woryna ; Danny Ayres ; Liam Carr ; 60.6 (4-2)(28-20) Heat 9 - Chris Harris ; Ben Barker ; Nike Lunna ; Martin Knuckey(Frmt) ; 60.7 (3-3)(31-23) Heat 10 - Richard Lawson ; Danny King ; Richie Worrall ; James Sarjeant(R) ; 61.3 (4-2)(35-25) Heat 11 - (re-run) Aaron Summers ; Krzysztof Kasprzak (TR) ; Fernando Garcia ; Kacper Woryna ; 60.3 (4-4)(39-29) Heat 12 - (2 re-runs)Danny King ; Martin Knuckey (tapes 15m) ; Ben Barker(Fx) ; Danny Ayres(Fx) ; 62.2 (0-5)(39-34) Heat 13 - Chris Harris ; Krzysztof Kasprzak ; Richard Lawson ; Aaron Summers ; 60.7 (1-5)(40-39) Heat 14 - James Sarjeant ; Fernando Garcia ; Liam Carr ; Nike Lunna ; 61.2 (2-4)(42-43) Heat 15 - Chris Harris ; Richard Lawson ; Richie Worrall ; Krzysztof Kasprzak ; 59.9 (3-3)(45-46)