In what turned out to be a superb advertisement for the sport, Glasgow took an important win and crucially stopped the Diamonds picking up anything, in a hard fought match. There were some exciting races and plenty of action to thrill the large crowd.
It was nip and tuck early on with five of the opening six races being shared, with the only heat advantage going to Glasgow after both Richie Worrall and Ben Barker overtook their respective opponents for a 4-2 in heat 3.
Robert Lambert equalled the track record in heat 5 before Nike Lunna looked like he would extend the lead in heat 6. Richard Lawson was way out in front with Lunna and Steve Worrall passing and repassing for third, with Lewis Rose just ahead of the pair of them. Lunna by now into third, after swooping around Worrall on the second lap, looked like he would do the same to Rose. However he tried the cutback on the fourth bend instead and just narrowly avoided colliding with the Newcastle reserve, causing him to fall back to fourth and the chance was lost.
Fernando Garcia then climbed out from under the fence after the first running of heat 7, to take third place from Lindgren on the final corner having been passed by the Swede, after a mistake, on the second bend of the last lap.
Heat 8 looked like it would be crucial and it was the fast starting Rose who took the heat with Garcia a comfortable second. Behind him Victor Palovaara and Lunna were passing each other almost on every lap before the former Tiger squeezed inside the Finn on the second bend last time around to take third and the Diamond’s first heat advantage.
The lead was back to two but Richie Worrall just got around his brother in heat 9 and another 4-2 looked likely. However entering the second lap, Ben Barker’s throttle jammed and he piled into the fence. Inevitably Steve won the re-run, equalling the track record but crucially Danny Phillips fell off in third and had to pull off, maintaining Glasgow’s lead at one.
Lunna finally picked up a point in heat 10 for a home 4-2 before Danny Ayres did likewise in the next, even leading Robert Lambert for a lap and another 4-2.
Ayres then came out again in heat 12 and brought the house down, just holding off Rose to take a 5-1 with Richie Worrall to open up a 9 point lead.
Robert Lambert was squeezed out in heat 13 by both Tigers, with Steve Worrall winning, which secured the three points for the home side.
Newcastle then kept themselves in with a chance of the extra point with a 4-2 in heat 14, after Ayres and Barker went for the same bit of track, Barker having to pass Rose.
Richie then went through the tapes in heat 15, with Aaron Summers coming in. Summers then went down after a tough first turn before Tigers took a final 4-2 with Lawson taking the chequered flag.
Glasgow fully deserved their victory after a tough and bruising encounter, with almost every first bend fiercely contested. Lawson lead the way again, only dropping a point and he was backed up with Summers and Worrall both scoring 10. Further down, Ayres and Garcia scored crucial points, although Garcia picked up a hand injury, while Lunna will ride worse in the future and score more!
For the Diamonds, Steve Worrall only lost to Lawson, while Lewis Rose scored a good 10, however they’ll look to Kus and the disappointing Lambert, as the main reason they failed to pick anything up.
Glasgow Tigers 49 Newcastle Diamonds 40 Premier League 29/5/2016 Glasgow Tigers Richard Lawson 3 3 3 1* 3 13 + 1 Nike Lunna 0 0 0 1 1 Richie Worrall 3 2 2 3 10 Ben Barker 1 1* Fx 2 4 + 1 Aaron Summers 1* 3 3 2 1 10 + 1 Fernando Garcia 2 1 2 5 Danny Ayres 1* 2 1 2* 0 6 + 2 Newcastle Diamonds Robert Lambert 1* 3 2 0 0 6 + 1 Victor Palovaara 2 0 1 0 3 Matej Kus 0 2 0 0 2 Ludvig Lindgren 2 0 2 3 7 Steve Worrall 3 1* 3 3 2 12 + 1 Lewis Rose 3 2 3 1 1 10 Danny Phillips 0 0 F 0 Heat 1 - (re-run) Richard Lawson ; Victor Palovaara ; Robert Lambert ; Nike Lunna ; 56.4 (3-3)(3-3) Heat 2 - Lewis Rose ; Fernando Garcia ; Danny Ayres ; Danny Phillips ; 57.5 (3-3)(6-6) Heat 3 - Richie Worrall ; Ludvig Lindgren ; Ben Barker ; Matej Kus ; 57.1 (4-2)(10-8) Heat 4 - Steve Worrall ; Danny Ayres ; Aaron Summers ; Danny Phillips ; 56.7 (3-3)(13-11) Heat 5 - Robert Lambert ; Richie Worrall ; Ben Barker ; Victor Palovaara ; 56.1 =TR (3-3)(16-14) Heat 6 - Richard Lawson ; Lewis Rose ; Steve Worrall ; Nike Lunna ; 56.8 (3-3)(19-17) Heat 7 - (re-run) Aaron Summers ; Matej Kus ; Fernando Garcia ; Ludvig Lindgren ; 57.0 (4-2)(23-19) Heat 8 - Lewis Rose ; Fernando Garcia ; Victor Palovaara ; Nike Lunna ; 58.2 (2-4)(25-23) Heat 9 - (re-run) Steve Worrall ; Richie Worrall ; Ben Barker(Fx) ; Danny Phillips(F) ; 56.1 =TR (2-3)(27-26) Heat 10 - Richard Lawson ; Ludvig Lindgren ; Nike Lunna ; Matej Kus ; 57.2 (4-2)(31-28) Heat 11 - Aaron Summers ; Robert Lambert ; Danny Ayres ; Victor Palovaara ; 57.3 (4-2)(35-30) Heat 12 - Richie Worrall ; Danny Ayres ; Lewis Rose ; Matej Kus ; 57.7 (5-1)(40-31) Heat 13 - Steve Worrall ; Aaron Summers ; Richard Lawson ; Robert Lambert ; 56.5 (3-3)(43-34) Heat 14 - Ludvig Lindgren ; Ben Barker ; Lewis Rose ; Danny Ayres ; 58.7 (2-4)(45-38) Heat 15 - (2 re-runs)Richard Lawson ; Steve Worrall ; Aaron Summers ; Robert Lambert ; 57.3 (4-2)(49-40)