Glasgow won the battle of the Tigers, as they put a lacklustre Sheffield side to the sword.
With Jason Garrity picking up an injury at some point between Friday and today, Sheffield looked like they could run the home side close with R/R looking as good a bet as Garrity’s relatively poor Ashfield record. It did score around his average of 5 but it didn’t really help the Yorkshire side!
Glasgow got off to the perfect start with Nike Lunna rounding Simon Stead on the opening bends to join partner Richard Lawson for the 5-1. Danny Ayres took a good win in the reserves race, with Fernando Garcia passing Nathan Greaves for the point.
Another 5-1 followed in heat 3, with Richie Worral taking half a second off the track record before both Sheffield riders gated in heat 4, only for Ayres to dive up the inside of Greaves on the third bend, with the Sheffield man slipping off without contact. As usual, the re-run went to the rider who was last in the original staging, Aaron Summers, retaking the track record by 0.04s!
Stead was out manouvered by both Tigers in heat 5, before Kyle Howarth took a couple of seconds to leave the score at 31-11.
Glasgow extended their lead to 40-14 by heat 9 before Howarth took a second on double points, holding off Lunna in the early part of the race, to give the first drawn heat.
Garcia looked like he would join partner Summers for another 5-1 over Stead but the Sheffield man passed him on the inside of the third bend for another 4-2.
After Berge was injured in a first bend incident in heat 12, it was another home 4-2, Ayres easing past Greaves on the third bend.
Stead was again the victim of the home side moving him about on the opening bends and another 5-1.
Heat 14 was the best race of the day as Garcia chased and passed Howarth on the final bend for yet another 4-2.
Two maximums were on the line in the final heat but it was the visitors who took the consolation 5-1 to stop Lawson and Rene Bach’s unbeaten run.
It was simply too easy as Glasgow tore their opponents apart over the early heats, even when they missed the start they were inevitably ahead by the fourth bend. Glasgow didn’t record a last place until heat 15, which was Sheffield’s only heat win.
Everyone won a race for Glasgow, with man of the match Richie Worrall scoring a maximum, while Summers, Lawson and Bach were all beaten by Howarth. Danny Ayres had his best score since June, with Lunna and Garcia also showing well.
For the visitors, Howarth was competitive, while Sissis surprisingly didn’t take his full quota although he only beat the reserves. Stead was a pale shadow of the rider who used to fly around Ashfield, whilst it was a day to forget for Josh Bates and probably more so, for former Glasgow man Berge.
Glasgow must now wait and see who they will meet in the play offs although two 4 point away wins in their final away matches would just about guarantee second place and a bye, while a point would definitely secure third and probably Sheffield, whilst nothing would mean 4th and potentially Peterborough.
Glasgow Tigers 62 Sheffield Tigers 30 Premier League 4/9/2016 Glasgow Tigers Richard Lawson 3 3 3 2* 1 12 + 1 Nike Lunna 2* 1 3 1 7 + 1 Richie Worrall 3 2* 3 3 11 + 1 Rene Bach 2* 3 2* 3 0 10 + 2 Aaron Summers 3 1 3 3 10 Fernando Garcia 1 3 1 1 6 Danny Ayres 3 1 1 1 6 Sheffield Tigers Simon Stead 1 2 1 2 1 3 10 Josh Bates 0 0 0 1 0 1 Dimitri Berge 0 0 0 FNS 0 Kyle Howarth 1 2 2 4^ 0 2* 11 + 1 Jason Garrity R/R (5) Arthur Sissis 2 0 2 2 0 2 8 Nathan Greaves 0 Fx 0 0 0 Heat 1 - Richard Lawson ; Nike Lunna ; Simon Stead ; Josh Bates ; 56.84 (5-1)(5-1) Heat 2 - Danny Ayres ; Arthur Sissis ; Fernando Garcia ; Nathan Greaves ; 58.36 (4-2)(9-3) Heat 3 - Richie Worrall ; Rene Bach ; Kyle Howarth ; Dimitri Berge ; 55.63 (Track Record) (5-1)(14-4) Heat 4 - (re-run) Aaron Summers ; Simon Stead ; Danny Ayres ; Nathan Greaves(Fx) ; 55.59 (Track Record) (4-2)(18-6) Heat 5 - Rene Bach ; Richie Worrall ; Simon Stead ; Josh Bates ; 56.22 (5-1)(23-7) Heat 6 - Richard Lawson ; Kyle Howarth ; Nike Lunna ; Arthur Sissis ; 57.13 (4-2)(27-9) Heat 7 - Fernando Garcia ; Kyle Howarth ; Aaron Summers ; Dimitri Berge ; 56.92 (4-2)(31-11) Heat 8 - Nike Lunna ; Arthur Sissis ; Danny Ayres ; Josh Bates ; 57.41 (4-2)(35-13) Heat 9 - Richie Worrall ; Rene Bach ; Josh Bates ; Nathan Greaves ; 56.49 (5-1)(40-14) Heat 10 - Richard Lawson ; Kyle Howarth (TR) ; Nike Lunna ; Dimitri Berge ; 57.24 (4-4)(44-18) Heat 11 - Aaron Summers ; Simon Stead ; Fernando Garcia ; Josh Bates ; 57.13 (4-2)(48-20) Heat 12 - (re-run) Richie Worrall ; Arthur Sissis ; Danny Ayres ; Nathan Greaves ; Dimitri Berge (Fns) 57.51 (4-2)(52-22) Heat 13 - Aaron Summers ; Richard Lawson ; Simon Stead ; Arthur Sissis ; 57.69 (5-1)(57-23) Heat 14 - Rene Bach ; Arthur Sissis ; Fernando Garcia ; Kyle Howarth ; 58.32 (4-2)(61-25) Heat 15 - Simon Stead ; Kyle Howarth ; Richard Lawson ; Rene Bach ; 57.21 (1-5)(62-30)