Ben Barker signed off his Glasgow career with a man of the match performance, as Glasgow easily took the win against Plymouth on the hottest day of the year.
Barker had been told a few days ago that his services were no longer required and it was possibly this which took the pressure off him to record his best score of the season.
He was only beaten by Josh Grajczonek in heat 1 as Plymouth got off to a good start with a 4-2. Glasgow struggled with the track early on with Fernando Garcia nearly coming a cropper on the home straight, just being narrowly avoided by the following riders, Nike Lunna in heat 3 doing likewise and Danny Ayres amazingly staying on in heat 4 when it looked like he was going down. The Tigers despite this, led 14-10 but the Devils levelled with a heat 5 maximum. That was as close as they got.
Tigers took maximums in heats 6, 9 and 10 plus a heat eight 4-2 to extend their lead to 14.
Heat 10 was a bizarre race with the referee deeming an unsatisfactory start after a lap, after Todd Kurtz got a flyer, with Glasgow on a 4-2. He actually made the gate in the re-run but Richard Lawson cut up the inside to lead and then Ben Barker picked off first Kevin Doolan and two laps later Kurtz.
Grajczonek came out for the TR in heat 11 but Aaron Summers trapped him on the inside and by the time he got past his partner, Summers was long gone.
Tigers gradually pulled away after this, although amazingly the only Plymouth rider to score any points in the last 4 heats was reserve Stefan Nielsen, with 7!!!
In truth it wasn’t the most exciting match with the track being tricky early on and once it had settled down, Plymouth in the main struggled, frequently finishing well behind. Only Grajczonek, early on and Nielsen, late on being competitive, although Kyle Newman had a couple of good races.
Tigers had that good score from Barker, with Summers only dropping his point to Kevin Doolan, with Richie Worrall also reaching double figures. Danny Ayres had another good match, scoring paid 9, looking like he could continue to score well, although Richard Lawson had a poor match by his standards.
With Rene Bach due to join the team on Thursday, ironically against Barker, the pressure will be on him to hit the ground running in what is a must win match.
Glasgow Tigers 57 Plymouth Devils 35 Premier League 5/6/2016 Glasgow Tigers Richard Lawson R 2* 3 1 6 + 1 Ben Barker 2 3 3 2* 3 13 + 1 Richie Worrall 3 1 3 3 10 Nike Lunna 1 0 2* 2 5 + 1 Aaron Summers 3 2 3 3 2* 13 + 1 Fernando Garcia 1* 1* 0 1* 3 + 3 Danny Ayres 2 2* 1 2* 7 + 2 Plymouth Devils Josh Grajczonek(G) 3 3 4 0 10 Kyle Newman 1 2* 2 1* 0 6 + 2 Kevin Doolan(G) 2 3 0 0 5 Todd Kurtz 0 0 1 0 1 Sam Simota 1 0 1 2 Stefan Nielsen 3 1 0 1 2 3 1 11 Ellis Perks 0 0 0 0 Heat 1 - Josh Grajczonek(G) ; Ben Barker ; Kyle Newman ; Richard Lawson(R) ; 56.5 (2-4)(2-4) Heat 2 - Stefan Nielsen ; Danny Ayres ; Fernando Garcia ; Ellis Perks ; 58.4 (3-3)(5-7) Heat 3 - Richie Worrall ; Kevin Doolan(G) ; Nike Lunna ; Todd Kurtz ; 58.6 (4-2)(9-9) Heat 4 - Aaron Summers ; Danny Ayres ; Sam Simota ; Ellis Perks ; 59.6 (5-1)(14-10) Heat 5 - Josh Grajczonek(G) ; Kyle Newman ; Richie Worrall ; Nike Lunna ; 56.7 (1-5)(15-15) Heat 6 - Ben Barker ; Richard Lawson ; Stefan Nielsen ; Sam Simota ; 56.9 (5-1)(20-16) Heat 7 - Kevin Doolan(G) ; Aaron Summers ; Fernando Garcia ; Todd Kurtz ; 58.4 (3-3)(23-19) Heat 8 - Ben Barker ; Kyle Newman ; Danny Ayres ; Stefan Nielsen ; 57.4 (4-2)(27-21) Heat 9 - Richie Worrall ; Nike Lunna ; Sam Simota ; Stefan Nielsen ; 57.9 (5-1)(32-22) Heat 10 -(re-run) Richard Lawson ; Ben Barker ; Kevin Doolan(G) ; Todd Kurtz ; 57.6 (5-1)(37-23) Heat 11 - Aaron Summers ; Josh Grajczonek (TR) ; Kyle Newman ; Fernando Garcia ; 58.0 (3-5) (40-28) Heat 12 - Richie Worrall ; Danny Ayres ; Stefan Nielsen ; Kevin Doolan ; 57.8 (5-1)(45-29) Heat 13 - Aaron Summers ; Stefan Nielsen ; Richard Lawson ; Josh Grajczonek ; 58.2 (4-2)(49-31) Heat 14 - Stefan Nielsen ; Nike Lunna ; Fernando Garcia ; Todd Kurtz ; 58.6 (3-3)(52-34) Heat 15 - Ben Barker ; Aaron Summers ; Stefan Nielsen ; Kyle Newman ; 58.3 (5-1)(57-35)