GLASGOW have booked their place in the semi-finals of the SGB Championship play-offs after beating Redcar by the narrowest of margins in a tense night on Teesside.
The Tigers led by 10 at one point but looked to have lost the meeting when the Bears took the lead for the first time after 14 heats.
That came after the blow of losing No 1 Craig Cook in the previous race, when he was brought down and forced to withdraw off the back of four heat wins.
But Tom Brennan and guest Aaron Summers roared to a 5-1 in heat 15 to seal three points and guarantee the Tigers’ place in the league’s top two.
The result means they qualify directly for the semi-finals alongside Leicester, with four other sides – including Edinburgh – set to battle it out in the quarter-finals.
Boss Cami Brown said: “It was a very long, hard night. We were down to the walking wounded at the end but the boys were fantastic.
“Craig was immense and he was so unlucky to be taken out yet again through no fault of his own. He looked like he would go unbeaten.
“It didn’t look good after his crash but we never gave in and I’m absolutely ecstatic to be in the semi-finals again.
“People don’t realise how hard it is to make the top two in our league because it is so competitive. Redcar might not even make the play-offs and look how good they are.
“We now need to see if we can get everyone back fit. Tom took a heavy knock tonight and was almost out of the meeting, so we have four riders carrying injuries.
“We need a week or two where we can recover and that extra break might help us.
“Once again I’m so pleased for the fans, they were amazing tonight as they always are.”
The Tigers now head to Plymouth on Tuesday to complete their regular league programme, though the result will have no bearing on their final position.
Brown says Cook intends on being available for that tie but his position will become clearer on Monday.
Brown added: “He needs the bike time – it didn’t look like that tonight, but we want to get him as much time on the bike as we can before the really important matches.
“It’s still a meeting we want to win but at least the pressure is off now.”
Dates for the play-off fixtures, along with the Glasgow leg of the Jubilee League final against Poole and Leicester, will be confirmed in due course.