After a three week home absence, Tigers got their title challenge back under way with an ultimately easier than it looked victory over Ipswich.
In front of a bumper crowd, Glasgow made a perfect start with two successive 5-1s, although guest Ryan Douglas almost allowed Danny King past him, after a mistake in heat 1.
Jack Smith followed this up with his first ever heat win in the reserves race with partner Tom Perry riding shotgun behind him.
Three shared heats followed, with Nike Lunna twice coming in last despite being all over the back wheel of his opponents.
Richard Lawson cleverly nipped past Rory Schlein on the second bend to win heat 6, with Perry’s third taking Tigers 10 up.
Cameron Heeps was wheeled out on double points in heat 7 but Aaron Summers won easily. Perry almost splitting the Witches on the opening lap before falling back.
Douglas won heat 8 but Smith was at the back before Glasgow went back to being 10 up with a 4-2 in heat 9, Worrall barging past Schlein on the back straight to win.
Heat 10 was shared before a long tractor break and not for the first time, this seemed to unsettle the home side.
Ipswich hadn’t won a race up to this point but King took heat 11 with Newman passing Summers on the back straight for a 5-1 and the lead was suddenly only 6 points.
Worrall and Perry settled the nerves with a 4-2 before Ipswich returned the compliment in a hard fought heat 13, Lawson just keeping Schlein at bay for second..
Lunna finally got going with a win in heat 14 but Perry and Sedgmen were having a battle behind him. Sedgmen passed him on the final bend and despite Perry closing the gap down the home straight the Witch got the verdict on the line.
Tigers had won the match but were trying to avoid giving Ipswich the same bonus point they had picked up at Foxhall Heath earlier in the season.
For a couple of laps it looked like they would pick up the 3-3 required but Worrall was passed by Schlein at the end of lap 2 and the Witches took a 4-2 to pick up the losing point.
Despite only losing by 6, Ipswich never looked capable of winning, indeed they had only 3 heat wins all by Danny King but crucially they all resulted in heat advantages.
Tigers lesser lights had problems against the compact top 5 of the opposition but they also did their job when it mattered, picking up points in heats 2, 8 and 14 which resulted in the 6 point difference.
It doesn’t get any easier next week with the other Tigers of Sheffield visiting and they too have a good top 5!!
Glasgow Tigers 49 Ipswich Witches 43 SGBC 24/6/2017 Glasgow Tigers Richard Lawson 3 3 3 2 2 13 Ryan Douglas 2* 1 3 0 6 + 1 Richie Worrall 3 3 3 3 0 12 Nike Luna 0 0 1 3 4 Aaron Summers 3 3 1 0 7 Tom Perry 2* 0 0 1 1 4 + 1 Jack Smith 3 0 0 3 Ipswich Witches Danny King 1 2 3 3 3 12 Kyle Newma 0 1* 2 2* 5 + 2 Cameron Heeps 2 4^ 2 2 10 Justin Sedgmen 1* 1* 1* 2 5 + 3 Rory Schlein 2 2 2 1 1 8 Connor Mountain 1 0 0 0 1 Nathan Greaves 0 1* 1* 0 2 + 2 Heat 1 - Richard Lawson ; Ryan Douglas ; Danny King ; Kyle Newman ; 57.23 (5-1)(5-1) Heat 2 - Jack Smith ; Tom Perry ; Connor Mountain ; Nathan Greaves ; 59.18 (5-1)(10-2) Heat 3 - Richie Worrall ; Cameron Heeps ; Justin Sedgmen ; Nike Luna ; 57.16 (3-3)(13-5) Heat 4 - Aaron Summers ; Rory Schlein ; Nathan Greaves ; Jack Smith ; 57.82 (3-3)(16-8) Heat 5 - Richie Worrall ; Danny King ; Kyle Newman ; Nike Luna ; 58.41 (3-3)(19-11) Heat 6 - Richard Lawson ; Rory Schlein ; Ryan Douglas ; Connor Mountain ; 58.01 (4-2)(23-13) Heat 7 - Aaron Summers ; Cameron Heeps (TR) ; Justin Sedgmen ; Tom Perry ; 58.2 (3-5)(26-18) Heat 8 - Ryan Douglas ; Kyle Newman ; Nathan Greaves ; Jack Smith ; 59.21 (3-3)(29-21) Heat 9 - Richie Worrall ; Rory Schlein ; Nike Luna ; Connor Mountain ; 57.85 (4-2)(33-23) Heat 10 - Richard Lawson ; Cameron Heeps ; Justin Sedgmen ; Ryan Douglas ; 58.85 (3-3)(36-26) Heat 11 - Danny King ; Kyle Newman ; Aaron Summers ; Tom Perry ; 57.62 (1-5)(37-31) Heat 12 - Richie Worrall ; Cameron Heeps ; Tom Perry ; Connor Mountain ; 58.44 (4-2)(41-33) Heat 13 - Danny King ; Richard Lawson ; Rory Schlein ; Aaron Summers ; 58.36 (2-4)(43-37) Heat 14 - Nike Luna ; Justin Sedgmen ; Tom Perry ; Nathan Greaves ; 59.23 (4-2)(47-39) Heat 15 - Danny King ; Richard Lawson ; Rory Schlein ; Richie Worrall ; 58.84 (2-4)(49-43)