It is fair to say that the win was not as emphatic as some had expected, nor was it really a true reflection on the difference between the sides but with the Tigers pressing self destruct mode and giving away some unbelievable points the heat 15 5-1 that secured all the points was met with a sigh of relief.
Joe made an excellent start winning the opening heat relatively easily from the gate. david Howe tried hard to chase in the early stages but could not get close. However Theo was left at the rear and although he tried hard to gain on Joe Haines, going very wide on the pits bend on laps 2 and 3 looking for drive, it was not to be.
After being badly outgated when the tapes went up in heat 2, Nick and Michal both came inside Steve Worrall coming out of bend two all three very close together. michal gave chase to Jorgensen but coming into lap two, Nick lost control on the opening bend and slid off, causing Worrall to go wide to avoid him and crash into the fence. With Nick excluded as primary cause, Michal took on the Scorpions on his own in the rerun but a poor gate left him playing catch up. Worrall had been in the lead but Jorgensen swept round his team mate lap 2 bend 3 and pulled clear, leaving his young team mate to fend off Michal on his own. The Raj nearly pulled level going into the final lap after finding some grip off bend 4 and then tried a last gasp wide blast going into the final bend. Unfortunately it was too much and he slid off, remounting to cross the line for the single point.
After a delay for a heavy shower, Ben Wilson and James Grieves gated side by side in heat 3, Wilson edging ahead out of bend 2 and going on to win what was a well spread heat. From a Tigers point of view, what was worrying was that Christian had obviously returned to action too soon and was struggling badly.
An excellent gate by visiting reserve Steve Worrall was quickly negated when he locked badly on the opening bend, slightly hampering Michal Rajkowski and completely baulking his own team mate Tero Aarnio. Josh on the outside was unaffected by it and soared away into the distance whilst Michal recovered very quickly to settle into second place. Tero Aarnio did his best to try and catch the Raj, looking very close to having both wheels over the white line on the pits bend of the final lap but Michal held firm to give Tigers a 5-1 with Josh finishing well ahead of the action.
Glasgow chose to bring Nick Morris out instead of Christian Henry in heat 5 but again it was the Scunthorpe pairing who made the gate. James Grieves took the wide line on the opening bends to pass outside Haines whilst Nick favoured the tight inside line which saw him come cleanly through inside on bend 3. The heat quickly became spread and the points were shared.
It was the Glasgow pairing of Joe Screen and Theo Pijper who made the gate in heat 6, Joe rounding his team mate on bend 3 with both pulling well clear of the opposition and recording a very comfortable 5-1 for the Tigers. Joe in particular looked very fast although he did slow on the final two bends to allow Theo to catch up.
After a false start when it looked as if both visiting riders jumped the start, Ben wilson made an excellent gate for the Scorpions in the re run although both Josh and Nick were however quick to give chase. Josh came very close to passing inside on the pits bend of lap 2 but Wilson held. It only delayed Josh for a short while however and off the final bends of the lap he took the inside line and easily passed inside Wilson and pulled clear. Nick did his best to try and press Wilson but he managed to open up a few bike lengths of a lead on the Glasgow youngster which was to prove crucial when he wobbled off the final bend and slowed. Nick tried hard to find the grip he needed to get up the inside but Wilson had enough of a lead to hold for second place
Thomas Jorgensen came out in place of Steve Worrall in heat 8 but the heat was to belong to Theo Pijper with an impressive gate and ride giving him victory. Action was to be between Michal Rajkowski and Joe haines as they did battle for second place. Haines had gone round the outside of Michal on bend two but Michal passed inside Haines on bend three to reclaim his second spot. Haines never stopped trying but Michal was equal to any moves he made and held on for another 5-1 to the Tigers. jorgensen had slid off at the rear on the opening lap and cleared the track.
With Christian struggling from an injury that he had technically started the meeting with, Glasgow had no option to persevere and put him out for the required three rides in case of any engine failures or exclusions. he therefore took his place in the heat 9 line up alongside James Grieves whilst Scunthorpe again switched their reserves, bringing in Steve Worrall. An impressive gater, Worrall led a close race coming out of bend two but on the third and fourth bends all four riders got in a bit of a muddle, all four appearing to lock to some degree and it being quite remarkable that all four stayed on their machinery. James Grieves came out of the mix in the best shape on the outside line and quickly pulled clear to win a shared, spread heat.
With both Joe and Theo in electric form, it was no surprise that they gated well and were not threatened in heat 10 as they added to their 5-1 collection. it did however mean that the visitors were now 12 points down and as expected they brought out David Howe in the black and white tactical helmet in heat 11.
It was a heat that could have ended up costing the Tigers dearly although it did not look that way from the start. The first attempt was pulled back and Howe correctly warned for jumping the start. the re run saw Nick gate well with Josh riding an excellent opening bend to clamp Howe hard to the inside line and allow Nick and Josh pull clear. They had a considerable gap by the end of the back straight and it was not as if they were close to each other but bizarrely both Nick and Josh slid off independently and simultaneously on the third and fourth bends. Josh was to state later that both had been caught out by a bump entering bend 3. However it left both tigers on the deck and a 5-1 suddenly became a 1-8 and even that as at risk as it took Nick quite some time to realise he should get going again to ride for the point, Josh's bike having packed up. Nick did manage to get the point although Howe was very close to lapping him as he crossed the finish line. the hole atmosphere seemed to plummet as suddenly Scunthorpe were right back in the meeting and with the injured Christian Henry out in heat 12 Glasgow were suddenly under pressure.
An excellent gate and opening bends from Michal Rajkowski saw him lead in the early stages of heat 12 but Bergstrom gave chase and executed a very hard inside pass out of bend 2 lap 3 with Michal left little room and being forced to slow up. bergstrom pulled clear and that was that.
Heat 13 has in recent times been one of Glasgow's stronger heats but it was tero Aarnio who gated for the visitors. joe Screen was quick to change line and cut inside him out of bend two to take the lead but behind him David Howe carried out the same move on Josh Grajczonek leaving Josh at the rear. Aarnio came close to joe towards the end of the opening lap but Joe pulled clear and won easily although with Josh struggling at the rear the points were shared.
James Grieves swept round the outside of the opening bends to lead heat 14 out of bend 2 whilst Nick Morris got the better of Ben Wilson on a tight opening bend to come out in second spot. At the end of lap 2, Nick appeared to get too close to team mate James as he came through on the inside line, had to take evading action and ended up hammering into the fence at the start of the home straight. he quickly cleared the track and was clearly very frustrated and angry with himself but although James went on to win the heat comfortably, it was another potential 5-1 that Glasgow had blown and the pressure was now definitely on for heat 15.
It was perhaps a surprise to many that Glasgow elected for Josh alongside Joe in heat 15 but Stewart Dickson's decision was to be vindicated. However, first the failings in the current rules regarding heat 15 gate positions were highlighted when David Howe went through the tapes and had to go off 15m. Glasgow had chosen gates 2 and 4 but with Howe off 15m were moved in to 1+3 making their task off the less favourable gates even more difficult. Not that Joe and josh seemed to be bothered by it. When the tapes went up the Glasgow pairing gated, Joe again settling in behind Josh. There was a scare towards the end of the opening lap when Joe drifted wide but he managed to recover quickly enough to hold on to second spot. A tenacious Ben Wilson never gave up trying but joe once again rode a very good tactical race to hold off his challenged whilst Josh sailed away into the distance. The 5-1 was pretty well already assured when Ben Wilson suffered bike problems on the final lap, Joe coming home behind Josh for the 5-1 Glasgow needed to take all the points.
Things were certainly not easy for Glasgow today and at times they seemed to be determined to gift points left right and centre. The blow of Christian not being as it as he had obviously hoped added to the problems but once again the thing that stood out was how the Tigers riders pulled together as a team and ground out a result that should in all honesty have been far more easily attained.
Scunthorpe had, we thought, rather ambitiously stated they saw glasgow as a potential away win and right up to heat 15 there was still the chance they could have pulled it off. there was no doubt that David Howe was their main main and the fast gating reserves scored rather more points than anyone surely expected.
It is often the sign of a good team that they can grind out results when things are going wrong and Glasgow did that today. there is no doubt however that they will have to be much sharper next week for the visit of Sheffield.
