The visitors no 1, Ben Barker, was undoubtedly one of the best we will welcome to Ashfield this season however, and set his stall out from the opening heat when he smashed the track record by almost two seconds.
Barker rode an excellent opening couple of bends to edge the fast gating Joe Screen wide and come out of bend 2 ahead. From there on he was full throttle all the way with an impressive display of fearless riding to set a new track record of 58.3. Glasgow filled the minor placing's for a share of the spoils.
The Plymouth reserves outgated their Glasgow counterparts in heat 2 but Michal Rajkowski came through the gap between them into the lead coming out of the opening bend. From then on there was only one winner although disappointingly after a poor gate Nick Morris was unable to make up ground and trailed in at the rear.
For the visitors, Jason Bunyan came out of bend 2 ahead in heat 3 but Christian Henry passed round the outside of him as they went down the back straight. Bunyan kept trying to press Christian but by lap three Henry had a comfortable lead of a couple of bike lengths and doubled that by the time he reached the chequered flag. Not that the chequered flag slowed Christian down - he appeared to have miscalculated and did another lap at full pelt before taking the applause of the home support! With James Grieves settling in to third place well ahead of an off the pace Seemond Stephens, Tigers took their first heat advantage of the afternoon.
Heat 4 required a re run after Rajkowski hit the deck on the opening bend in some classic first bend bunching. In the re run, Josh Grajczonek and Jason Bunyan rode side by side through tough opening bends and down the back straight before an excellent brave piece of speedway from Josh Grajczonek saw him blast round the outside line to power into the lead out of the 4th bend, going on to win the heat in style.
Glasgow's pair were first away from the tapes in heat 5 but Ben Barker swept outside Christian Henry entering the back straight and very nearly managed to get by James Grieves as well but Grieves held. For all four laps, Barker tracked James, trying inside and outside lines. Coming into the final lap, Barker was almost touching James's back wheel and came very close to getting through when he tried to go outside coming off bend two. Four laps of excellent tactical speedway by James were rewarded however with the heat win although Ben Barker was at pains to show the visiting fans after the heat that his saddle had come loose during the race. The heat was however shared, Mark Simmonds having taken full advantage of a lack of concentration from Christian Henry on lap 1 bend 4 which allowed him to pass round the outside of the Glasgow man for third place.
The first 5-1 of the day came courtesy of an untroubled win from the gate by Joe Screen and Theo Pijper in heat 6 and it was followed by a heat advantage for the Tigers in heat 7. Jason Bunyan gated ahead of Nick Morris but Josh Grajczonek quickly edged ahead of his team mate to pressure Bunyan. Josh came very close to getting up the inside of him off the pits bend of the third lap before switching to the outside line and getting the drive off the fourth bend to pass outside him going down the home straight. Bunyan was unable to hit back and indeed Nick Morris came close to catching him towards the end of the final lap.
Teamwork at the start of the heat gave Tigers a comfortable 5-1 in heat 8, Michal Rajkowski riding good hard opening bends to move the Plymouth pairing out and leave the room for partner Theo Pijper to come through into the lead. The Raj settled in behind Theo and although Simmonds made a good attempt to find drive on the outside off the final bends, Michal held comfortably.
The initial running of heat 9 saw Jade Mudgway come to grief on his own on the opening bends after a good gate from the Tigers riders. It turned out Mudgway was unable to move his bike, it appearing to be a chain problem and the race was re run with three riders only and resulted in a very easy 5-1 for the Tigers.
Another re run was required in heat 10 and again it was Mudgway - in for Stephens - who was disqualified, this time spinning on the opening bends and going over the high side. Tigers had outgated the Devils initially but in the re run Bunyan was in the mix from the tapes. Joe Screen just edged it whilst Theo got the better of Bunyan on the opening bends and both Glasgow riders were soon clear and notched up another 5-1. Theo perhaps gave Joe a bit of a fright on the final lap when he went full throttle on the outside of the pits bend, Joe doing a quick double take to make sure it was his team mate!
It was no surprise that Plymouths star man Ben Barker came out in the black and white in heat 11. Josh completely missed the gate but worked his way through on the opening bends into second spot, moving Simmonds very wide in the process to leave room for Nick Morris to follow through in to third. Josh came very close to passing Barker using the outside line on bends three and four of the opening lap, then switching inside to try a tight inside line off lap 2 bend 2, again drawing almost level but Barker then started to put a little air between them. Although Josh never gave up he was never closer than a couple of bike lengths after that. Simmonds was however unable to recover from the opening bends and finished some distance behind Nick at the rear.
It took a few attempts to run heat 12, Rajkowski definitely jumping the start initially although the second running looked clean but was again called back. When the race finally got underway, it was an easy 5-1 for the Rajkowski-Henry pairing from the tapes.
With the line up for heat 13 you just felt it was going to be a cracker and the riders didn't disappoint. Josh Grajczonek and Ben Barker served up a cracking race. Barker gated, Josh battled hard on the opening bends and went for the inside line out of bend 2. The two were side by side going down the back straight but going into bend 3 Josh just edged it and eased Barker a little off his line to hit the front. For the remainder of the race the two had a cracking battle with never more than a bike length between them - if that - until the final bends. It was a joy to watch two young riders racing full pelt and allowing each other the respect and room to compete, trying to out think each other. Josh held off everything Barker threw at him and claimed the win. Joe Screen was not far behind in third place and in fairness to Jade Mudgway he too was not far off the pace at the rear.
Plymouth brought Bunyan out as a tactical ride in heat 14. His partner James Cockle reared badly at the gate but it was to have no effect on James Grieves and Nick Morris who went into the opening bends ahead and never really looked back, giving Tigers another 5-1.
Glasgow elected to give Theo Pijper and Josh Grajczonek heat 15 whilst Plymouth went with Ben Barker and perhaps a bit surprisingly Mark Simmonds. It looked as if Barker got a flier when the tapes went up but he reared slightly allowing the Tigers pairing to hit the front into the opening bends. Giving chase, Barker was able to sweep outside Theo Pijper into second spot. He attempted to track down Josh, who had managed to pull clear, but another excellent race from Josh gave Barker no chance to cut into his lead although once again Barker never gave up trying and was also excellent to watch. Theo Pijper comfortably held on to third spot to give the Tigers an impressive win over a struggling Plymouth side.
In Ben Barker, Plymouth undoubtedly have one of the best and most entertaining riders in the league but unfortunately he cannot do it all on his own for them. Although points wise Jason Bunyan did well, he seemed a shadow of the rider who has visited Glasgow in the past. Unfortunately Seemond Stephens should not have been persuaded to return to the Premier League on today's showing.
For Glasgow, it was however a good day with Josh Grajczonek undoubtedly the stand out. However, there were a few other Tigers who also shone. In particular it was good to see Theo and Michal find their form round the home circuit and both looked very comfortable. Christian too hit form although he seems to have a bit of a block with his second ride in home meetings! It was also good to see James Grieves start to find his Ashfield form of old and he looks as if he has now come to terms with the new circuit. If you were to be over critical, Nick again seemed to be struggling with his Premier League form at the start of the meting but visibly improved as the day went on and he appeared to relax more and ride more naturally. Joe will possibly be smarting at losing his track record - he is no longer the fastest Tiger either, Josh claiming that at 58.9. With the new track now starting to bed in nicely, will Barker's record fall again in the next few weeks?
