Rye House were the visitors in the first match at Ashfield in a month. The Tigers had already beaten them earlier in the season in a cup tie but with both sides having made changes that couldn’t be used as a guide.
GLASGOW43: James Grieves 11+1, Anders Thomsen 9+1, Joe Screen 6+1, Joey Ringwood 5+1, Dakota North 5, Henning Bager 5, Joe Jacobs 2.
RYE HOUSE 47: Josh Grajczonek 15, Pontus Aspgren 14, Jason Bunyan 9+3, Anders Mellgren 6+1, Kasper Lykke 3+1, Ben Hopwood 0, Tyson Nelson r/r.
Heat 1. Josh Grajczonek took an easy win with partner Bunyan behind him and Glasgow’s run of heat one losses continued.1-5
Heat 2. Aspgren took the lead with an early pass over Jacobs and with Lykke third, after Joey had touched the tapes, Tigers were off to another disastrous start. 3-9
Heat 3. Anders had an encouraging start passing early leader Mellgren and despite slowing with engine problems won the race. Henning an easy third after Hopwood fell.7-11
Heat 4. James made the start and effectively that was that! The Rockets filled the minor positions with Joe at the back.10-14
Heat 5. Grajczonek was away again and once Bunyan had passed Henning on the opening bends it was another 1-5. Anders stopped with bike problems.11-19
Heat 6. Dakota was the one to make the start with Joe S passing Aspgren at the end of the first lap but he was repassed in the next lap and in the end Dakota did well to win.15-21
Heat 7. It looked like another disastrous heat when James touched the tapes and had to go off 15m. Luckily Joey made the start and James was quickly past an ailing Mellgren. Hopwood then fell gifting a 5-1 to Tigers.20-22
Heat 8. Bunyan made another good start to win comfortably. Dakota despite almost coming to grief on the last lap was second, with Joey a surprise third over Aspgren.23-25
Heat 9. Tigers needed something out of this one and when Mellgren was passed by Henning and Anders in the first couple of laps it was looking good. Unfortunately Henning fell on the last corner and Rye escaped with a 3-3. It would prove to be a costly error.26-28
Heat 10. Fortunes swung one way then the other before the tapes even went up with Mellgren excluded for delaying the start only for Dakota to touch the tapes. With Aspgren in as replacement Tigers elected not to give Joe J his third ride by bringing in Joey. Aspgren made the start but Joe S was past on the 4th bend first time round. Joey an easy third ahead of Hopwood. 30-30
Heat 11. Grajczonek was quickest away; James in second, Bunyan managed to split the Tigers by passing Joey coming out of the second bend for the 2-4. 32-34
Heat 12. The earlier decision not to use Joe J meant he in effect had to come out in this one. Henning barges past both Rockets on the opening bends which allows Joe J into third but Mellgren stuck to his task and snatched third on the line.35-37
Heat 13. Tigers knew they had to beat Grajczonek to win the match but Josh was smartly away in this one and the shared heat looked ominous for the home side.38-40.
Heat 14. Aspgren duly won the heat and with Lykke passing Joey on the final lap for third, it was match point to the Rockets. 40-44
Heat 15. Anders was a deserved choice with James but neither could stop former Tiger Grajczonek’s maximum charge. Anders passed Bunyan for third.43-47
Another home defeat against a depleted Rockets side missing their best two Ashfield riders from the cup tie. Another bad start and then a two heat period, 9-10 where the meeting could’ve been won forGlasgowbut for mistakes. Allied to this was another inconsistent home performance with under par showings from a number of home men.
Grajczonek was unbeaten for the second time this season on a track he hasn’t always looked comfortable on; he was well backed up by Aspgren and track expert Bunyan.
The only bright spot in another bad afternoon was the encouraging form of Anders Thomsen who looks like an exciting addition.
<report by Derek Watson>