With Tigers only having won 4 of their 12 home matches against the Comets in this or similar competitions and five track experts in their side, it looked like this would be a close and difficult match. It turned out different to what most people thought!!
Early on in the meeting things looked ominous for the home side though. Comets had heat winners in the opening three heats and if Rafal Konopka hadn’t fallen off after doing the hard work by passing both Tigers in heat 2, they would’ve been 4 up instead of level.
Tigers took their first heat win through an excellent Aaron Summers pass on Kyle Howarth in heat 4, whilst James Sarjeant got the better of Konopka, who actually led around the first two bends, to take a 4-2.
Ricky Wells took heat 5 but the disappointing Kenneth Hansen trailed in last behind Dimitri Berge and Nick Morris.
Tigers doubled their lead in heat 6 after Richard Lawson blocked a Howarth attempt on the fourth bend with Kozza Smith not far behind in third.
Summers also remained unbeaten after heat 7 just getting the better of Rene Bach on the third bend, Rusty Harrison taking third from the hard chasing Victor Palovaara.
Heat 8 saw a surprise home 5-1 over the previously unbeaten Wells although he seemed to make a complaint to the referee over the start, which had looked uneven. The starting gate playing up for the second week in a row.
Dimitri took a good heat 9 win from Howarth with Nick third to take Tigers 10 up.
Workington resisted the double pointer in heat 10 which looked like a good decision with Richard Lawson ahead of the two Comets. Kozza, chasing Bach, clipped the back of the Dane’s machine on the fourth bend, causing both to fall. Bach suffering a shoulder injury putting him out of the match. After a short delay it looked like Rusty Harrison was going to take the re-run but Richard rode a “Rusty like” race and made a superb outside pass on the final bend to win.
This allowed the double pointer with Wells in heat 11 but Aaron rode a good first bend to block him out, although he couldn’t stop Hansen taking a surprise win.
The meeting was won with successive 5-1s in heats 12 and 13, while Dimitri took his second win in heat 14 with an early pass on Harrison, James an easy third although it looked like he jumped the start.
Workington looked on their way to a consolation 5-1 in the final heat but another excellent Richard Lawson pass on Howarth limited that to a 4-2.
Final Result
Despite a couple of the home men being under par, it was their ability to avoid last places(4) that ultimately took them to victory. There was some good racing especially from Richard Lawson, while Dimitri Berge scored an effortless 10 points, his best in almost a year, as did James Sarjeant.
The Comets probably lost their chance of a point with Bach’s injury but disappointing returns from Hansen and Barrett didn’t help.
So Tigers move back to the top of the group but their two matches next weekend look like being the defining ones in this section.
Glasgow 53: R Lawson 12+1, K Smith 4+2, N Morris 5+3, D Berge 10, A Summers 11, V Palovaara 1+1, J Sarjeant 10
Workington 38: K Hansen 3, R Wells 12, R Bach 5, R Harrison 5+1, K Howarth 8, N Barrett 4+1, R Konopka(G) 1