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Glasgow Tigers v Edinburgh Monarchs
Challenge, 15 October 2006
Ashfield Stadium, Glasgow

Glasgow 43
1Danny Bird33311* ..111
2David McAllan12*3R. ..61
3Lee Dicken000.. ..00
4(g)Rusty Harrison233Fx. ..80
5Shane Parker11*00. ..21
6Robert Ksiezak2*2123 2.121
7James Cockle3010. ..40
Edinburgh 47
1Theo Pijper222*2*0 ..82
2(g)Kevin Little01*23. ..61
3(g)Trent Leverington331*33 ..131
4(g)Chris Kerr1F21*. ..41
5William Lawson3123. ..90
6Sean Stoddart001*.. ..11
7Derek Sneddon12*Fx12 ..61

* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).

Glasgow were without the injured Kauko Nieminen and had Rusty Harrison as a guest at number 4. Edinburgh were missing injury victims Henrik Moller and Matthew Wethers. They were also without Daniele Tessari who has returned home to Italy. Instead they had Kevin Little at number 2 for Moller, Trent Leverington at number 3 for Tessari and Chris Kerr at number 4 for Wethers.

Well you couldn’t have written the script for this one! Glasgow, having restricted Edinburgh to a 4 point lead from the first leg, started as red hot favourites to overturn the deficit and go on to win with some comfort but it just didn’t happen. Strangely enough Edinburgh asset, Robert Ksiezak, top scored for the Tigers while, Glasgow asset, Trent Leverington, top scored for the Monarchs. It was all going to plan for the home side when they led by six points after heat 8 but three disastrous races in heats 11, 12 and 13 consigned them to defeat. Trent Leverington, no doubt wishing to ‘impress’ his parent club, was sensational and might even have gone through the card unbeaten had he not been baulked by his partner in heat 10 while Shane Parker, for whatever reason, looked a pale shadow of the rider who has proved such an inspiration for the Tigers for so long.

There was no hint of what was to come when Danny Bird rocketed from the gate to win heat one followed by Theo Pijper and David McAllan for a 4-2. Glasgow then took the aggregate lead with a 5-1 in the reserves race. James Cockle made a lightning start and was followed from the tapes by Robert Ksiezak. That’s the way it stayed despite a strong challenge from Derek Sneddon as the Tigers went 6 points ahead. Heat 3 produced an excellent race. Rusty Harrison made the gate and was soon on the favoured outside line. However Trent Leverington riding out of his skin reeled him in and the riders passed and repassed each other until Leverington prevailed. Chris Kerr took third place and Edinburgh registered a 2-4 which cut the gap to four points and levelled the match on aggregate. But what a shock for the Tigers in heat 4! William Lawson made the gate and led Shane Parker on the wide line on the opening two bends. Derek Sneddon who had got the better of James Cockle at the start roared past Parker on the back straight and headed straight for the wide line on the third bend. Try as he did Parker could make no impression on Sneddon as William Lawson won by a distance. This gave Edinburgh a 1-5 which tied the scores at 12-12 and restored their aggregate four point lead after the opening four races.

Rusty Harrison made another fast start in heat 5 and held off Theo Pijper and Kevin Little with Lee Dicken tailed off at the back for a shared race but in heat 6 Glasgow forged ahead again with another 5-1. Danny Bird and David McAllan left William Lawson trailing at the tapes and the Tigers’ pair never looked like being caught. This gave Glasgow a four point advantage and tied the aggregate scores again. Trent Leverington stormed from the tapes in heat 7 to lead Shane Parker and Robert Ksiezak while Chris Kerr fell on the third bend bringing up the rear. Parker seemed to lose interest and was passed by Ksiezak for a shared heat. Derek Sneddon led from the tapes in heat 8 but went too wide on the second bend and fell causing a rerun from which he was excluded. In the rerun it looked like another 5-1 for Glasgow as David McAllan and James Cockle hit the front. However Cockle fell on the second bend second time round so Kevin Little gratefully accepted second place. Cockle then remounted for third and Glasgow took a 4-2 which extended their lead to six points in the match and two points on aggregate as the score went to 27-21 after eight races.

In heat 9 Rusty Harrison and Sean Stoddart made fast starts but it was Harrison who pulled away off the second bend. William Lawson took up the challenge but couldn’t catch Harrison. With Lee Dicken again tailed off at the back the race was shared as was heat 10. In this race Danny Bird was again fast away but Trent Leverington, going for a big outside sweep off gate 4, was baulked by his partner, Chris Kerr and the race finished that way with David McAllan suffering what looked like a very expensive engine blow up at the back. Then Glasgow hit a poor run of results. In heat 11 Kevin Little made the start ahead of Shane Parker who baulked his partner, Robert Ksiezak, on the second bend consigning him to the back. Parker was then passed by Theo Pijper on the back straight as Edinburgh scored a 1-5. Parker gave up the chase and left it to Robert Ksiezak to try to challenge the Monarchs’ pair but he could make no impression. This result pulled Glasgow’s lead back to two points and put Edinburgh back in the lead on aggregate by two points. It looked like another 1-5 to the Monarchs in heat 12 which finally got under way after two attempts at a fair start. The impressive Trent Leverington was up and away again from the tapes and he was joined by Derek Sneddon at the front. Robert Ksiezak reeled Sneddon in and made an impressive pass round the outside on the last bend to pip Sneddon on the line for second place. Nonetheless Edinburgh had taken the 2-4 which tied the match score at 36-36 after twelve races and restored the Monarchs’ four point aggregate lead.

Edinburgh then became the first visiting team to Ashfield this season score a 1-5 in heat 13 against the Bird/Parker pairing. Danny Bird made the start and moved out on the second bend to join Shane Parker. William Lawson saw his opportunity and dived through the huge gap on the inside while Parker got trapped on the fence. Theo Pijper took advantage to pass Parker and then, for good measure, he passed Danny Bird too to leave the Glasgow supporters stunned. Glasgow were now in big trouble as Edinburgh took a four point lead in the match and the Tigers needed two 5-1s to force a run off for the trophy. They looked as though they might get one of them in heat 14 when Robert Ksiezak shot from the start for a comfortable win. Behind him Derek Sneddon and Rusty Harrison had an exciting tussle for the vital second place. However Harrison thundered into the third bend on the last lap and couldn’t turn the bike fast enough causing him to bale out at the fence. Chris Kerr, following behind, did well to lay his bike down quickly to avoid a serious accident and the referee awarded the race as a 3-3. This meant that Edinburgh had won the Cup and led by four points with one heat to go. Any chance that Glasgow might have had of drawing the match disappeared when Trent Leverington won with ease leaving Ksiezak and Bird behind to team ride Theo Pijper out of the points.

Match Report by Merlin