Terrific Tigers dismantle the Bears
Redcar suffered a heavy 57-33 away defeat to a strong Tigers side at Ashfield as the visitors failed to gain valuable away points in the battle for the play-offs. Charles Wright top scored for Redcar with paid 11 whilst Craig Cook returned from injury with a brilliant 15 point maximum for Glasgow.
Cook began the meeting by getting the better of a game Jason Edwards. Edwards led the Cumbrian until the final bend when the Glasgow man passed Edwards for the win and with Hume in third ahead of Wright, Glasgow set the tone for the evening.
Glasgow extended their early advantage to 6 as their reserve pairing of Connor Bailey and Broc Nicol got the better of Adam Roynon and Jordan Jenkins in comfortable fashion. Redcar’s woes worsened in heat 3 as the pairing of Ulrich Ostergaard and Ben Basso both passed Erik Riss to gain Glasgow’s 3rd heat advantage in a row.
After a heat 4 Glasgow 4-2, Redcar packed the minor placings in heat 5 to limit any further early damage. The early stages of heat 6 saw Lewis Kerr lead until both Tigers usurped the testimonial man. With Cook away and gone, Kerr managed to re-pass Danyon Hume to claim second.
With the home lead standing at 14 after a shared 7th heat the hosts hit another damaging 5-1 in heat 8 to compound the visitor’s misery. Another Glasgow 5-1 followed with Basso and Ostergaard both passing Kerr to put Glasgow into a startling 38-16 advantage.
Redcar recorded their first heat winner and their first heat advantage in heat 11 as Wright picked up the win and the club captain was backed up by Edwards in third to give the away support something to cheer.
Jade Mudgway used his tactical substitute in heat 12 and the away contingent had further reason to cheer with a 5-1 advantage courtesy of Wright and Riss. Glasgow returned the favour in heat 13 as Cook continued his faultless evening with a win whilst Tom Brennan took second ahead of Wright.
A crazy heat 14 saw Basso scrape the air fence to pass his teammate Nicol and Jenkins on the opening lap. The hard charging Dane then set after Kasper Andersen and the Glasgow man passed his compatriot on the outside on B2 L3. Basso continued using the outside in the final stages of the penultimate lap which led to the Dane colliding with the air fence which handed Andersen the win.
Cook completed his full maximum in heat 15 with a comfortable tapes to flag win and with Brennan getting the better of Riss on the final lap, the Tigers rounded off an impressive night with another heat advantage.
Redcar team manager Jade Mudgway was not happy with the performance and his side’s slow start, “We didn’t have a heat winner until heat 11 and you can’t win meetings without winning races. I can’t point the finger at one particular rider for not doing their job tonight, the whole team didn’t perform as a collective unit. I take full responsibility as much as anyone.”
Mudgway knows his side needs to improve their slow starts, especially away from home, “We are aware that we are starting meetings slowly away from home. We have tried to work on this but so far it hasn’t worked but we will keep trying to improve.”
Mudgway also believes Jason Edwards was the shining light for the Bears, “Jason was the standout for us tonight, he rode fantastically well in heat 1 until Craig Cook got the better of him on the last bend. Jason’s move into the main body hasn’t seemed to phase him, he just makes starts and rides hard.”
Glasgow Tigers = 57
- Craig Cook= 15
- Danyon Hume = 6+2
- Ulrich Ostergaard = 9+1
- Benjamin Basso = 5+1
- Tom Brennan = 9+1
- Broc Nicol = 4+1
- Connor Bailey = 9
Redcar Bears = 33
- Charles Wright = 10+1
- Jason Edwards = 6
- Erik Riss = 6+1
- Kasper Andersen = 4+1
- Lewis Kerr = 5
- Adam Roynon = 1
- Jordan Jenkins = 1