Glasgow opened their league campaign with a comfortable victory over a depleted Sheffield side in front of the Sky cameras.
Nick Morris broke the track record in heat 1 while Ashley Birks and Kozza Smith traded places in the battle for second in the opening lap for a home 4-2. The visitors took a surprise 5-1 in heat 2 but Glasgow hit back with one of their own in the next. They increased their lead with a 4-2, after a superb win from Dimitri Berge who just held off Josh Grajczonek and broke the track record in heat 5. This increased to eight after an uncomfortable looking 5-1 from Morris and Kozza Smith in heat 6, with Smith in particular having problems getting round.
Sheffield at this point were struggling to win races and slipped further behind after another maximum in heat 8 put Glasgow 30-18 up. Andre Compton won his second race in heat 9 but when Birks fell trying to pass Smith in heat 10 the home side went 37-23 up.
Heat 11 saw the best race of the night with Grajczonek(on double points) going from last to first with an outside pass on James Sarjeant on the last lap. This was after Jason Garrity lost a chain after being hit by Richard Lawson on the opening lap.
Heat 12 saw a bit of controversy after Josh Bates and Rafal Konopka both came down on the third bend with the Sheffield man needlessly shoving Konopka, when replays showed that it was a racing incident. Bates was excluded and the resulting 5-1 won the match for Glasgow.
Glasgow were solid throughout with everyone paid for at least a win, while Sheffield suffered with the loss of Ty Proctor due to Visa issues and Grajczonek only winning two races.
It was an enjoyable evening with plenty of close racing and incident to keep the large crowd and those watching on TV entertained. The floodlights adding to the experience and atmosphere in the last couple of heats.
Final Figures
Glasgow Tigers 53
Sheffield Tigers 40
Premier League
12/05/2015
Glasgow Tigers
Nick Morris 3 3 3 2 1* 12 + 1
Kozza Smith 1 2* 2* 1 6 + 2
Aaron Summers 3 1 1* 2* 2 9 + 2
Dimitri Berge 2* 3 2 1* 8 + 2
Richard Lawson 2 3 1* R 6 + 1
Rafal Konopka 0 0 3 3
James Sarjeant 1 1* 3 2 2 9 + 1
Sheffield Tigers
Josh Grajczonek 0 2 6^ 3 R 11
Ty Proctor R/R 0 (2)
Ashley Birks 2 0 1* F 1 4 + 1
Jason Garrity 1 2 2 R Fx 5
Andre Compton 3 1 R 3 1 3 11
Josh Bates 2* Fx 0 X 2 + 1
Arthur Sissis 3 0 0 1 3 7
Heat 1 – Nick Morris ; Ashley Birks ; Kozza Smith ; Josh Grajczonek ; 57.7 (4-2)(4-2)
Heat 2 – (re-run)Arthur Sissis ; Josh Bates ; James Sarjeant ; Rafal Konopka ; 59.3 (1-5)(5-7)
Heat 3 – (re-run)Aaron Summers ; Dimitri Berge ; Jason Garrity ; Ashley Birks ; 57.8 (5-1)(10-8)
Heat 4 – (re-run)Andre Compton ; Richard Lawson ; James Sarjeant ; Arthur Sissis ; 58.7 (3-3)(13-11)
Heat 5 – Dimitri Berge ; Josh Grajczonek ; Aaron Summers ; Arthur Sissis ; 57.5 (4-2)(17-13)
Heat 6 – (awarded)Nick Morris ; Kozza Smith ; Andre Compton ; Josh Bates(Fx) ; no time (5-1)(22-14)
Heat 7 – Richard Lawson ; Jason Garrity ; Ashley Birks ; Rafal Konopka ; 59.0 (3-3)(25-17)
Heat 8 – James Sarjeant ; Kozza Smith ; Arthur Sissis ; Andre Compton(R) ; 59.9 (5-1)(30-18)
Heat 9 – Andre Compton ; Dimitri Berge ; Aaron Summers ; Josh Bates ; 58.2 (3-3)(33-21)
Heat 10 – Nick Morris ; Jason Garrity ; Kozza Smith ; Ashley Birks(F) ; 59.0 (4-2)(37-23)
Heat 11 – Josh Grajczonek (TR) ; James Sarjeant ; Richard Lawson ; Jason Garrity(R) ; 58.7 (3-6)(40-29)
Heat 12 -(re-run) Rafal Konopka ; Aaron Summers ; Ashley Birks ; Josh Bates(X) ; 60.8 (5-1)(45-30)
Heat 13 – Josh Grajczonek ; Nick Morris ; Andre Compton ; Richard Lawson(R) ; 58.5 (2-4)(47-34)
Heat 14 – (re-run) Arthur Sissis ; James Sarjeant ; Dimitri Berge ; Jason Garrity(Fx) ; 59.1 (3-3)(50-37)
Heat 15 – Andre Compton ; Aaron Summers ; Nick Morris ; Josh Grajczonek(R) ; 58.8 (3-3)(53-40)