Glasgow gave themselves a fighting chance of lifting the Premier League title with a backs to the wall performance to take a 7 point lead into tomorrow night’s second leg after losing captain Aaron Summers in his second outing.
After a superb build up in front of Ashfield’s biggest ever crowd it was down to business.
The nerves were fraying in the home side with James Sarjeant touching the tapes in the opening heat but Richard Lawson managed to split the powerful Edinburgh opening pairing, although Justin Sedgmen looked uncomfortable trying to hold off Hynek Stichauer before the Czech fell off.
Heat 2 saw both Monarch’s gate but they collided with each other on the second bend with Robert Branford excluded and also ruled out of the rest of the meeting. Tigers looked like they would take full advantage but Max Clegg rode a superb race to pass Stichaeur and just failed to catch Sarjeant on the run in to the line.
Nick Morris was too eager to get away in heat 3 and had to go off 15m. A mistake from Erik Riss on the opening lap, allowed Morris through to share the race behind Kevin Wolbert and Victor Palovaara.
It was Edinburgh’s turn to run into problems in heat 4 with Sam Masters failing to beat the two minutes. He was chosen to go off the back mark but could only pass his partner on the last lap, with the Tigers long gone.
The starting misfortunes struck Nick Morris again in heat 5 and after he was warned in the first running for jumping the start, he repeated the move in the re-start and was excluded. Tigers elected to use Sarjeant and he rode a brilliant race to hunt down and pass Sedgmen after he and Cook had made the start.
Tigers then took a 4-2 in heat 6 before disaster struck in heat 7.
Summers became the 3rd Tiger to touch the tapes and was put off 15m. Wolbert and Riss gated with Stichauer third but entering the second lap, Stichauer appeared to have a bike problem, straightened up and fell. The following Summers plowed into his bike and took a heavy fall. He was able to walk into the ambulance but ruled out of the meeting. After a lengthy delay, whilst the ambulance made the journey to and from hospital, Glasgow elected not to use up Sarjeant’s 5th ride off the 15m mark and gave the Monarchs the 5-0.
Sedgmen then held off a strong challenge from Sarjeant in heat 8 to share the race and maintain Edinburgh’s one point lead.
Both Morris and Palovaara rode a clever opening two bends to see off Masters in heat 9 and then Tigers took a lucky 4-2 in heat 10 when Riss stopped whilst third.
Heat 11 looked like a sure 1-5 with Glasgow’s reserves up against Cook and Sedgmen but speedway isn’t decided on paper and it was Sarjeant who made a superb gate to lead the Edinburgh duo. Cook started to chase after him and tried a third bend dive on the third lap but got it all wrong and slid into the fence. He was unable to clear the track and the race was awarded with Glasgow taking an unexpected 4-2 to lead by 7.
It looked like it would be 9 in heat 11, with Nick Morris getting the better of Kevin Wolbert early on, with Sarjeant all over the German’s back wheel. Unfortunately Sarjeant slipped off on the third lap trying an overtake, to gift a point back to the visitors.
The home side had momentum on their side and Richard Lawson rode a great first bend to outpace Cook easily, with Masters a distant third to share heat 13.
Heat 14 looked like it would be a chance for both sides to sneak a 4-2 and Palovaara almost got around Riss on the second bend to supply it but the German hung on despite the Swede’s continual pressure to share the heat.
Edinburgh surprisingly chose Sedgmen to partner Cook in heat 15 with Glasgow going with Lawson and Morris. It was Cook who made the best start with the Glasgow riders happy to fill the minor places and a seven point win.
There’s no doubt that Glasgow rose to the occasion with a full team performance that they have threatened to do all season. In fact Summer’s injury seemed to inspire them as they “won” 28-20 without him, with every rider in the red and white scoring important points. In fact if they hadn’t continually shot themselves in the foot early on, its possible they could’ve been looking at a 10-12 lead, more if he hadn’t been injured.
Edinburgh looked to have the meeting in the bag at heat 8, with a one point lead and the home side a heat leader down but they struggled to respond to the Tigers second half charge. With Masters looking slow and Clegg not at the races, Glasgow were able to defend their lead and see out the last five heats, three of which probably would’ve featured Summers, by actually increasing their advantage.
The second leg could hinge on Glasgow’s efforts in securing a reasonable guest and Edinburgh are still the overwhelming favourites to win the title but maybe just maybe…………………….
Glasgow Tigers 48 Edinburgh Monarchs 41 PL Championship Final 1st Leg 16/10/2015
Glasgow Tigers
Richard Lawson 2 3 3 3 2 13
Kauko Nieminen R/R 0
Nick Morris 1* XT 1* 3 3 1* 9 + 3
Victor Palovaara 2 0 1 2* 2 7 + 1
Aaron Summers 3 FNS 3
Hynek Stichaeur F 1 Fx 1 1 1* 4 + 1
James Sarjeant T 3 2* 2 2 3 0 12 + 1
Ryan MacDonald DNR
Edinburgh Monarchs
Craig Cook 3 3 FX 2 3 11
Justin Sedgmen 1 1 3 2 0 7
Kevin Wolbert 3 3 2 2 10
Erik Riss 0 2* R 3 5 + 1
Sam Masters 1 2 1 1* 5 + 1
Max Clegg 2 0 R 0 0 1* 0 3 + 1
Robert Branford Fx 0
Heat 1 – Craig Cook ; Richard Lawson ; Justin Sedgmen ; Hynek Stichauer : James Sarjeant(XT) ; 56.9 (2-4)(2-4)
Heat 2 – (re-run) James Sarjeant ; Max Clegg ; Hynek Stichaeur ; Robert Branford(Fx) ; 60.1 (4-2)(6-6)
Heat 3 – Kevin Wolbert ; Victor Palovaara ; Nick Morris(tapes, 15m); Erik Riss ; 58.1 (3-3)(9-9)
Heat 4 – Aaron Summers ; James Sarjeant ; Sam Masters (2mins, 15m) ; Max Clegg ; 58.8 (5-1)(14-10)
Heat 5 – (2 re-runs) Craig Cook ; James Sarjeant ; Justin Sedgmen ; Victor Palovaara ; Nick Morris (X starting offence) 58.9 (2-4)(16-14)
Heat 6 – (re-run) Richard Lawson ; Sam Masters ; Victor Palovaara ; Max Clegg(R) ; 58.5 (4-2)(20-16)
Heat 7 – (re-run) Kevin Wolbert ; Erik Riss ; Aaron Summers(FNS)(tapes, 15m) ; Hynek Stichaeur(Fx) ; 61.5 (0-5)(20-21)
Heat 8 – Justin Sedgmen ; James Sarjeant ; Nick Morris ; Max Clegg ; 59.6 (3-3)(23-24)
Heat 9 – Nick Morris ; Victor Palovaara ; Sam Masters ; Max Clegg ; 58.5 (5-1)(28-25)
Heat 10 – Richard Lawson ; Kevin Wolbert ; Hynek Stichaeur ; Erik Riss(R) ; 59.2 (4-2)(32-27)
Heat 11 – (awarded) James Sarjeant ; Justin Sedgmen ; Hynek Stichaeur ; Craig Cook (Fx) ; no time (4-2)(36-29)
Heat 12 – Nick Morris ; Kevin Wolbert ; Max Clegg ; James Sarjeant (frmt); 58.9 (3-3)(39-32)
Heat 13 – Richard Lawson ; Craig Cook ; Sam Masters ; Hynek Stichauer; 58.2 (3-3)(42-35)
Heat 14 – Erik Riss ; Victor Palovaara ; Hynek Stichaeur ; Max Clegg ; 59.8 (3-3)(45-38)
Heat 15 – Craig Cook ; Richard Lawson ; Nick Morris ; Justin Sedgmen ; 57.8 (3-3)(48-41)