Glasgow Tigers v Newcastle Diamonds Sun 24 Apr 2011, Ashfield Stadium, Premier League by Lawrence Heppell
The Sapphire Engineering Diamonds once again got off to a slow start yesterday afternoon at the Glasgow Tigers, and with skipper Derek Sneddon unable to pass Theo Pijper from the back in Heat one, the Diamonds were two down from the off.
Another 4-2 came to the Tigers in Heat Two, but at the entrance to the first bend on lap three, Ritchie Worrall locked up and fell, also catching Nick Morris who also went down with the Diamond excluded, but both he and Morris were eventually signed out of the meeting with injuries to nurse.
Come the end of Heat Four, and despite a spirited challenge from Kyle Newman, Newcastle found themselves 17-7 down with team manager George English taking an early tactical ride option with Mark Lemon taking the mantle for double points in the fifth.
Both he and Sneddon made a terrific gate and shot out to lead with the Aussie passing his partner to maximise the scoring on the last lap in Newcastle 1-8, hauling them back to within three points of Glasgow, 18-15.
Stuart Robson blasted round the outside of Josh Grajczonek in Heat Seven, and with new boy Claes Nedermark keeping Michal Rajkowski at the rear, Newcastle were now only one behind, 23-22, and one up after another Heat Eight 2-4, won well by Sneddon as Pijper moved his partner wide on the last lap allowing Newman through for a vital point.
Former Newcastle skipper Christian Henry took the ninth race with ease as new Diamond, Slovenian Matej Ferjan eased his way past another former Diamonds’ captain, James Grieves, in a home 4-2 to put the Tigers back in front by 29-28.
That one point deficit remained until Glasgow took an all-important 5-1 in Heat 12 with Henry and Rajkowski avoiding some first bend drama from Newman to put the
Tigers 40-35 ahead, which turned into 45-36 at the end of a Heat 13 that saw Grajczonek squeeze through a non-existent gap round Lemon to join Joe Screen up front.
Robson took another excellent win in the 14th race, but with Newman and Rajkowski shedding chains and having to push home, it was the Tiger who won the foot-race for one point in the 3-3 which took the home side mathematically beyond the Diamonds’ reach, although Lemon and Robson did take a 2-4 in the final race ending the match at 50-43
Afterwards English said: “Mark and Stuart were, as ever, our mainstays, whilst both out new guys put in good racing, they were both making their seasonal debuts and were still shaking off the cobwebs to a degree, and we know we are going to get good performances from Claes and Matej soon.
“Losing Richie too early on meant we were a tad down on manpower and at the end that showed.”
Monday 25th April Newcastle Diamonds v Glasgow Tigers
Following Newcastle's seven point defeat at the Glasgow Tigers on Sunday, the Diamonds were a team on a mission yesterday evening at Brough Park armed with their two new boys, both eager to make an impression in their first home match.
Mark Lemon, looking down worried at his bike, shot out to win Heat One with skipper Derek Sneddon in second, but diving into the third bend on the second lap, both Joe Screen and Theo Pijper went past the Diamond who was left wondering what he'd done wrong in the shared 3-3.
Josh Grajczonek and Michal Rajkowski made the Diamonds suffer in Heat Four with a sharp gate leaving new number five Matej Ferjan floundering at the back, headed by reserve Richie Worrall in a disappointing Glasgow maximum, giving the visitors the lead by four, 10-14.
Screen made no poor gate in the fifth to take a big win in a Glasgow 2-4, putting the Tigers six-up, but Grajczonek found himself excluded from Heat Six when he shot hard inside Lemon with the two falling, leading to the other pair in the race falling too. Lemon needed to take an ambulance ride to the medical room and out of the rest of the meeting with a suspected broken collar bone - the re-run resulted in a surprise 4-2 to the Diamonds with Worrall standing in to Lemon's boots and holding out the challenge of Nick Morris all the way with the score now at 16-20 before two former Diamond skippers, Christian Henry and James Grieves nicked a big five from Ferjan pushing the Tigers lead to 17-25.
Claes Nedermark, on his home debut took a superb win in Heat Nine, looking very competent in a second successive 5-1 to Newcastle, levelling the match at 27-all, and after Grieves physically barged his way round Sneddon in no uncertain terms off bend four to keep the score level 30-30 after 10.
Joe Screen equaled the time for the 2011 fastest visitor so far taking win, and with Pijper holding out Newman in a Glasgow 2-4 putting the Tigers back in front yet again with four races to go.
36-42 with two to go, Worrall jetted out to lead Heat 14 well, but Grieves shot round him to take up the lead. Robson then took up the gauntlet and wound up the speed reeling Grieves in, and roaring round him off the second bend of the last lap to bring the house down, setting the match at 40-44 with one race to go. Another physical gate from Screen and his elbows made sure the challenge from the Diamonds came to an early end and the Tigers took a final 1-5 to win handsomely 41-49.
Team manager George English said: "We were left too low on power too early in the match and when you have your lose your top scorer, as we did with Mark Lemon, that's going to hurt.
"It certainly did, coupled with us having two riders on a home debut, and still getting used to their new surroundings didn't help although Claes was really putting some great laps together as the meeting went on.
"I'm just wondering what evils we've done as now we've lost two number ones to injury in the last three weeks and it's a complete nightmare of a situation now to plug the gaps."
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