With a League Cup semi final place booked the night before, Tigers got their league campaign off to the perfect start but were made to work hard by a compact Redcar side.
With Richie Worrall out with a rib injury after his crash last week, Tigers had to use rider replacement but welcomed back Richard Lawson. The visitors also had an injury problem with Theo Pijper guesting in place of Lasse Bjerre.
Tigers at least made a better start than they had last week, with an opening 4-2, with Lawson recording the fastest time of the season.
Simon Nielsen was an easy winner in heat 2 and the Bears drew level with their own 4-2 in heat 3. Hugh Skidmore elbowing Ben Barker out of his way to win, Barker then having to pass Jonas Andersen who didn’t make it easy for him. Lunna had been excluded in the original staging after falling.
A Danny Ayres fall in heat 4 while trying to pass Bellego for second, resulted in a 3-3, before Pijper and Nielsen easily took a 5-1 over Barker to put the Bears 17-13 up.
Lawson won heat 6 by a mile with Lunna just failing to pip Nielsen for second, having passed Bellego early on.
Tigers then re took the lead with a 5-1 from Aaron Summers and Fernando Garcia, who blasted around the outside of the first two bends, to join his captain up front.
Surprisingly neither side made a change in heat 8 and Lunna took an easy win. Behind him, Jacob Buckhave passed Ayres as Tigers extended their lead to 4.
R/R suffered its third fall through Garcia in heat 9 but Barker made an astonishing pass on Bellego on the third turn almost coming off on the fourth, after lifting.
Lawson won heat 10 over an improving Jonas Andersen before Pijper ended Summers’ maximum in heat 11, although the heat was shared.
Heat 12 finally saw R/R score points, as Barker blocked Skidmore on the second bend to take the win.
Glasgow were looking for a 5-1 in heat 13 and the Summers/Lawson combination again obliged, taking Glasgow to an 8 point lead with two left.
Man of the match, Barker duly wrapped up the 3 points for both him and the team with another victory in heat 14 before the Summers/Lawson duo repeated their heat thirteen 5-1, with Lawson picking up a paid maximum.
Tigers for the second week in a row had their heat leaders to thank for getting the win, with rider replacement(3) not getting anywhere near Ritchie Worrall’s early season scores. 13 points from the other three wasn’t a bad return but better sides than Redcar would’ve taken advantage.
The Bears probably surprised a few with their performance and were well served by the fast starting Simon Nielsen and Pijper, although neither could stop Tigers when it mattered late on.
Things will get even more interesting next week with the visit of Peterborough, still smarting from a heavy home defeat tonight. Tigers will hope that Worrall is back lest they suffer the same fate.
Glasgow Tigers 51 Redcar Bears 39 Premier League 24/4/2016 Glasgow Tigers Richard Lawson 3 3 3 2* 2* 13 + 2 Nike Lunna 1 Fx 1 3 0 5 Richie Worrall R/R (FX F FX 3) (3) Ben Barker 2 1 3 3 3 12 Aaron Summers 3 3 1* 3 3 13 + 1 Fernando Garcia 2 F 2* FX 2 0 6 + 1 Danny Ayres 1* 0 1 0 2 + 1 Redcar Bears Theo Pijper 2 3 3 0 1 9 Jacob Buckhave 0 2 0 2 Hugh Skidmore 3 1 1* 2 7 + 1 Jonas B Andersen 1 0 2 2 5 David Bellego 2 0 2 1 5 Simon Nielsen 3 2* 2 1* 1* 1* 0 10 + 4 Lee Payne 0 1* R 1 + 1 Heat 1 - (re-run)Richard Lawson ; Theo Pijper ; Nike Lunna ; Jacob Buckhave ; 57.2 (4-2)(4-2) Heat 2 - Simon Nielsen ; Fernando Garcia ; Danny Ayres ; Lee Payne ; 59.1 (3-3)(7-5) Heat 3 - (re-run)Hugh Skidmore ; Ben Barker ; Jonas B Andersen ; Nike Lunna(Fx) ; 59.6 (2-4)(9-9) Heat 4 - Aaron Summers ; David Bellego ; Lee Payne ; Danny Ayres(FRMT) ; 59.2 (3-3)(12-12) Heat 5 - Theo Pijper ; Simon Nielsen ; Ben Barker ; Fernando Garcia(F) ; 58.6 (1-5)(13-17) Heat 6 - Richard Lawson ; Simon Nielsen ; Nike Lunna ; David Bellego ; 58.2 (4-2)(17-19) Heat 7 - Aaron Summers ; Fernando Garcia ; Hugh Skidmore ; Jonas B Andersen ; 59.3 (5-1)(22-20) Heat 8 - Nike Lunna ; Jacob Buckhave ; Danny Ayres ; Lee Payne(R) ; 59.4 (4-2)(26-22) Heat 9 - (re-run) Ben Barker ; David Bellego ; Simon Nielsen ; Fernando Garcia (FX); 59.0 (3-3)(29-25) Heat 10 - Richard Lawson ; Jonas B Andersen ; Hugh Skidmore ; Nike Lunna ; 58.4 (3-3)(32-28) Heat 11 - Theo Pijper ; Fernando Garcia ; Aaron Summers ; Jacob Buckhave ; 59.2 (3-3)(35-31) Heat 12 - Ben Barker ; Hugh Skidmore ; Simon Nielsen ; Danny Ayres ; 59.6 (3-3)(38-34) Heat 13 - Aaron Summers ; Richard Lawson ; David Bellego ; Theo Pijper ; 59.2 (5-1)(43-35) Heat 14 - Ben Barker ; Jonas B Andersen ; Simon Nielsen ; Fernando Garcia ; 59.4 (3-3)(46-38) Heat 15 - Aaron Summers ; Richard Lawson ; Theo Pijper ; Simon Nielsen ; 59.0 (5-1)(51-39)