Stewart on Camglen Radio
(Posted 24/06/08)

Thanks to Gordon Baillie, Glasgow Tigers got some free publicity across the airwaves in the Cambuslang and Rutherglen areas when he invited Stewart Dickson in as his guest to talk speedway over the airwaves.

It's not known if Gordon had to endure Stewart's holiday snaps at the same time (!) but they covered quite a wide range of topics from how Stewart originally became interested in speedway to what his visions for the future are. Bullet points of a few of the things mentioned that are pertinent to the Tigers at the moment are below:-

• 2008 has definitely been a season of injury and disappointment for the Tigers but it has to be looked on as short term pain for long term gain with regards to the signings of Mitchell, Josh and Anders
• Stewart acknowledged it has been made doubly hard for the Tigers with Edinburgh having such a good season and that it is in his opinion between the Monarchs, Somerset and Workington for the league.
• Sky did tend to pick the Southern meetings for their PL coverage but as they are now rumoured to be coming to Armadale it is encouraging that they are now acknowledging Scottish speedway and it would be nice at some point to entice them north for a derby meeting - preferably at Ashfield!
• the promoters don't have any input either directly or at the BSPA conference over where and when Sky cover meetings
• it would be nice to see Ashfield get awarded something like a British under 21 final especially as they have shown with hosting the PL Pairs twice in recent years that they can cope with the larger events
• Shane has been a massive miss for the Tigers not only on the track but also off it and in the pits. He doesn't know when we will see Shane back on a bike but does not think it will be in the near future.
• they had hoped to see Ross Brady back this Sunday but a trial out last Monday on his moto-X bike proved that his knee was not better and he is now possibly in even more pain than before. He will be seeing a specialist this Thursday but it looks like he may have to undergo surgery.
• the 2 year deals for Josh and Mitch were as much to protect Glasgow as anything. Mitchell has perhaps been a bit over enthusiastic and as a result had quite a few crashes but its all a learning curve as everything is completely different for them, not just the racing. He has started scoring points in the past few weeks and can hopefully build on that
• Anders came to us as a result of the Alun Biggart connection. he too is one for the future and they are more looking towards next year for Anders too.
• there is a definite need for a training track and since Linlithgow's demise there have been far fewer kids able to try speedway out and as a result fewer kids for the northern tracks to call on
• as with every northern track they are naturally keeping a close eye on Dale Lamb
• although they were not happy with Robert Ksiezak's performances at the start of the season, he has stepped up to the plate and shown exactly what they have felt he was capable of since signing him as an asset and he is making big strides
• the fans have been very faithful this year which can't have been easy and the backing of GTSSC and STARs was acknowledged
• ideally, Stewart would love for Glasgow to get their hands on a piece of land somewhere and build their own track and then facilities in a way similar to Somerset and Scunthorpe. That is definitely the way forward, to won their track rather than be at the mercy of landlords or other factors.

All of the above is my own recollection of what was said and therefore subject to my misinterpretation, any errors are mine!

Gordon Baillie advised after Stewart's segment had been completed that some questions e-mailed through to the show had not reached them on air but that he would contact Stewart and obtain answers to those and put them on Easy Tiger in due course

 

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