Sean and Ben made a confident start to proceedings with a tapes to flag 5-1
in the first heat. After a poor start in heat 2 Kyle shot past Tommy Allen on the third
turn and David McAllan battled past Steve Boxall on the pits turn on lap 2. Ricky and Richard
dominated heat 3 ahead of Daniel King with ex-Northern Riders Champion Brent Werner way
off the pace and trailing the field. André and Kyle took another untroubled maximum
in heat 4, and when Ricky and Richard both passed Tommy Allen to repeat the dose in heat 5 it left the Tigers 18 points
ahead and looking very pretty.
Sean and Ben stretched the lead to 22 points in heat 6, and André cantered home
in heat 7 but David trailed in behind Danny King and Brent Werner, although not for any lack of effort.
Perhaps the Tigers got a little complacent, but Ben and Kyle were caught out at the start in heat 8.
Ed Kennett on a tactical ride blatantly cut across Kyle on the run to turn 1 and got him flustered. Ben
tried a high wide sweep and his third bend dive took him from last to first place, briefly, as he
found no purchase on the outside of the fourth turn allowing both the Rockets to repass him. Kyle and Ben
then spent the remaining laps tripping over each others heels when they should have taken it in turns to
pick off the opposition. To compound matters Richard blasted high and wide into turn 3 trying to pass
Chris Neath on the first lap in heat 9, only to overcook things and career into the safety
fence. Sean and Ben got us back into the winning ways with a maximum in heat 10 to build the lead
back up to 19 points.
André's cut out left him stranded at the gate in heat 11, but David McAllan responded
with a Herculean effort diving past the Rye pair on the third turn on the first lap. Daniel King regained first
place exiting turn four but David kept up the pressure and they passed and re-passed again on the
second lap. A big effort on the last lap saw David drop it on turn three but after struggling
to free his leg from under the bike he was able to remount and collect his third place point
and the applause of the crowd. A brief hiatus ensued at the start of heat 12 when John Sampford
prostituted the rule book to use an absent rider as a tactical substitute, essentially
electing to use No.8 Luke Bowen
starting from a 15 metre handicap. Once the referee had checked the rule book the race started
with Kyle scampering away to win and Ricky struggling to keep just ahead of Steve Boxall for three
and a half laps. That was when Steve accepted that he would have to defer to his team mate and
virtually stopped while Luke made up a half lap leeway to take third place and a gift point. The
team managers discussed it at length with the referee but to the distaste of the crowd the result was
eventually announced as a 5-2.
Ed Kennett and Chris Neath were left in the wake of the Tigers top pair in
heat 13 to extend the lead to 22 points. Danny King was wearing the black and
white in heat 14 but Reg elected to give Kyle an extra ride. Richard having
battled through to second place made such a meal out of passing his team mate
it allowed Tommy Allen through into second place. Kyle had just recovered the
place when Richard's bike expired entering the first turn on the last lap. Tommy
went wide to avoid him and ran out of track clattering into the fence on turn
2. The referee's decision was to award the race with Richard excluded as the
cause of the stoppage. Could have been much worse! On to the nominated heat.
Sean and Ricky were the top scorers, shame our team manager doesn't have the
balls to over-ride policy. Chris Neath led for the first lap with Sean powering
past on the third turn to lead. Ricky blasted around Chris on the second turn
on lap three but then left the inside wide open allowing Chris to regain second
place with Ricky unable to respond.
The Tigers defend a 23 point advantage at Hoddesdon on Saturday, venue of
the biggest home advantage in the country. We have lost by 29, and 40 points
on our two visits this season so will have our work cut out. On the plus side
we could expect David McAllan to do better than Paul Cooper managed in those
meetings, and Kyle missed both due to injury and the tight slick conditions
could make him our trump card at reserve.
Sean and Ben made a confident start to proceedings with a tapes to flag 5-1
in the first heat. After a poor start in heat 2 Kyle shot past Tommy Allen on the third
turn and David McAllan battled past Steve Boxall on the pits turn on lap 2. Ricky and Richard
dominated heat 3 ahead of Daniel King with ex-Northern Riders Champion Brent Werner way
off the pace and trailing the field. André and Kyle took another untroubled maximum
in heat 4, and when Ricky and Richard both passed Tommy Allen to repeat the dose in heat 5 it left the Tigers 18 points
ahead and looking very pretty.