it is fair to say it is another result to make people sit up and take notice and although Nick Morris appears to be getting most of the plaudits for a superb performance, possibly the star of the night for Tigers was stand in captain James Grieves whose superb performance is perhaps not getting the praise it deserved.
And yet, in the early stages it looked as if Glasgow may find it difficult to take anything away from Foxhall. the home side opened up with a 5-1 despite Tigers guest making the gate. ipswich's young Australian Taylor Poole powered past him as they entered the back straight on the opening lap and one lap later Kevin Doolan repeated the move.
There was a good gate from both Tigers in heat 2 but Jerran Hart muscled through on the opening bends and went on to win. All the action was at the back where Mills battled hard for the home side but was held at bay by Michal Rajkowski.
Again it was the Tigers pairing who gated in heat 3, James Grieves in particular looking electric from the gate. Morten Risager was quickly on the case for the home side however and split the two by coming inside Christian Henry lap 2 bend 2 although James never looked in any danger of being caught. New signing Tresarrieu had ground to a halt for the Witches at the end of the opening lap whilst at the rear.
Nick Morris was brought in for Michal Rajkowski in heat 4 and he and Richard Sweetman recorded a 5-1 for the Tigers from the gate, the Ipswich pairing spending the early part of the heat battling between themselves at the rear although a late drive from Lasse Bjerre to catch Morris on the run to the line did come close.
It was the new man Tresarrieu who was to count for the Witches in heat 5 despite Doyle and Piper gating. The Frenchman nipped between the Tigers duo entering the back straight to lead by the end of the opening lap and the spoils were shared.
Glasgow were brought back down to earth with a bump in heat 6. Kevin Doolan gated and Poole joined him up front coming out of the opening bends leaving Sweetman and Rajkowski in their wake.
There was a bit of the bizarre about the first running of heat 7 with a couple of fence panels working themselves loose and coming down with no one near them, the race obviously being stopped for safety reasons. the re run was to provide some excellent speedway and a great battle between Lasse Bjerre and James Grieves. The two spent most of the race in close contention with one edging ahead on the bends only for the other to regain it down the straight. Come the chequered flag it was Bjerre who was to claim what was to be the only Ipswich victory over James all night. At the rear there was a battle of another kind with Jerran Hart pressing Henry all the way but Christian riding a good defensive race to hold him off. Ironically in both battles it was the quicker looking rider who finished behind.
Theo Pijper is getting a habit of making heat 8 his own and tonight was no different. He cleverly out smarted the quicker gating Taylor Poole on the opening bends by cutting back up the inside of bend 2 whilst Nick went wide to slot in to second spot. the Tigers pairing team rode for most of the race with Poole buzzing all over the back and they just managed to hold off a determined drive to the line by the home rider to give Glasgow a heat maximum.
Morris and Sweetman gated out front in heat 9 but Tresarrieu was finding his form and made an excellent swoop round the outside of Richard Sweetman at the end of lap two to split the Tigers. From then on in, Tresarrieu was constantly tying to press Morris whilst Sweetman was in turn trying to pressure Tresarrieu but there was no more passing.
James Grieves was untouchable after an excellent gate in heat 10 but with Christian Henry at the rear, a spread out heat was shared.
Guest Jason Doyle made the gate in heat 11 but was caught out by Jerran Hart going into bend 3 when he left a very large gap for the young reserve to come through into the lead. Lasse Bjerre in third then turned up the pressure on Doyle but Jason held to minimise the damage.
Heat 12 looked as if it was going to be mundane, tresarrieu outgating Nick Morris out front. However Jerran Hart was fired up and made a rash pass on Rajkowski, passing cleanly but appearing to be unable to control his bike afterwards, coming off. Michal had nowhere to go and had to quickly try to lay his bike down, picking up a knock in the process. Fortunately after a short spell of treatment Michal was able to walk back to the pits in what was to be his last appearance of the evening. The race was awarded.
Richard Sweetman completely missed the gate in heat 13 but Jason Doyle was obviously keen to make up for his error in heat 11 as he shot from the tapes and made absolutely sure he led from start to finish.
The crucial heat 14 saw the Tigers top two riders, indeed the top two riders on the night, line up. they did get a little luck with Morten Risager shedding a chain on the start line but the way both gated and rode the track in heat 14 it is debatable if it would have made any difference in the long run. They stormed away to a Tigers 5-1, guaranteeing an away win and giving a chance of collecting all four points in heat 15.
There was a little surprise that it was not the same pairing out again in heat 15, Glasgow instead opting to send out James Grieves alongside Jason Doyle. After a very tight opening bend, it was that man Grieves who again muscled his way to the front and never looked in any real danger of being caught. With Doolan comfortable in second, the eyes of the Tigers fans turned to the battle at the rear with Doyle just edging ahead of tresarrieu out of the opening bends. Had the race stayed that way, Glasgow would have collected four away points but towards the end of lap 3 Tresarrieu went very wide giving him the momentum to swoop round the outside of Doyle at the start of lap four.
Few people could have expected the Tigers to pull off this result and they were perhaps a little unlucky not to collect all four points in the long run. Grieves and Morris were outstanding and the home side had very little answer to them.
