Paulco

Here you are folks , proof positive it's not all gate and go at Glasgow anymore http://www.glasgowtigers.co/?p=2302&fb_ref=below-post&fb_source=message

If we blank it out of our mind , then maybe it never happened .

Darcy Ward didn't appear to take to it like a duck to water

He's improving without looking terribly exciting . Armadale is a devilishly difficult track for visiting riders , there's a long list of decent riders who never look comfortable round there . This year Edinburgh have a decent side , though even a poor Monarchs side doesn't lose too many at home . But certainly this year 20+ margin of victories will be the norm . How this Monarchs team copes with life away from their home comfort zone will decide if they will be genuine title contenders . But certainly an almost perfect home record will take you pretty close to the play-offs .

Agree about Helfer , he looked absolutely woeful . Both his points were gifts after Horwood fell in heat 2 , and Ringwood was excluded in heat 11 . Though what was going on with Ringwood in that race , i don't know , as he looked ill at ease with the outside starting position from the start and then had a complete nightmare race , after looking pretty good in his previous two races . Out of the three new Aussies on show , i still think Ringwood has the best chance of achieving anything in the sport . Though to be fair , the Golden Child is improving while Horwood continues to struggle badly away from Ashfield . Grieves looked a bit subdued , probably understandable following the death of his grandfather , Screen and Wright both had their moments , but on the whole it was deja vu at the Dump for the small band of Tigers' fans on the third bend . Our use of the t/r had me scratching my head . After a horror start we found ourselves 18-6 down after 4 heats . But with Screen , granted he was disappointing in heat 1 , out against Pijper and the Golden Child there was the prospect of at least a 6-3 . I think these things should be used at the earliest opportunity , especially as you're restricted to between heat 5 and heat 12 , but we resisted till Ringwood in heat 8 . Though any t/r wouldn't really have had much impact on the final score .

Well another comprehensive defeat at Armadale . Not a lot to say about it , the Monarchs were just too good for us again . We tried hard , but found the going as tough as ever . James Wright inflicting a rare Armadale defeat on Craig Cook was our only real highlight .

Bit wet here in the west , are we dry in West Lothian ?

I refer you back to the cold , dark , horrible winter months on here . Everybody had their own wee team thread of signing announcements and speculation and rumour . We had Redcar 2013 , Rye House 2013 , Somerset 2013 etc , etc , you get the drift . However , the humble offering from the eastern end of the M8 proudly claimed , Edinburgh Champions 2013 .

So assuming we emerged unscathed after our trip east to the Scotwaste Skip , we will welcome the reigning Premier League Champions to our humble little track of excitement this Sunday . Been a bit of a stuttering start to the defence of their title with home draws against Ipswich and a Craig Cook inspired Workington ,in the TV match ,before a narrow win against Craig Cook's other team on Bank Holiday Monday . Scunthorpe boast an all-English heat leader trio in the shape of veteran David Howe , the exciting Josh Auty and the emerging Ashley Birks . They are backed up by Scandanavians Thomas Jorgensen and Michael Palm Tree with rookie reserve Ryan Douglas and recent acquisition Lewis Blackbird making up the septet . So it has all the makings of another classic . Teams should be - Glasgow 1 Joe Screen 2 Henning Bager 3 James Wright 4 Joey Ringwood 5 James Grieves 6 Harley Horwood 7 Joe Jacobs Scunthorpe 1 Josh Auty 2 Thomas Jorgensen 3 Michael Palm Tree 4 Ashley Birks 5 David Howe 6 Ryan Douglas 7 Lewis Blackbird Another close run thing looks on the cards , let's hope it's as entertaining as last week . Last time at Ashy 24/6/12 Glasgow 55 Grieves 13+2(5) Screen 13+1(5)O'Malley 7+1(4) Campton 7+1(4) Sitera 6+1(4)Mills 5+1(4) Grajczonek 4 (4) Scunthorpe 38 Henry (guest) 13(5) Auty 12(5)Doolan (guest) 5 Birks 4+1(7)Aarnio 2+1(3) Palm Tree 2(6) Armstrong r/r

Tigers to rock the speedway world and inflict a shock home defeat on the self proclaimed Champions elect .

Blimey

He seemed to put in an improved performance at Newcastle on Monday , hope he remedies what the problem is . Cause he's a great character and when he's on form he really gets the crowd going .

I think that one was because Newcastle United had an evening match . But it was great getting back to Glasgow in good time to hit the pubs

We had an afternoon one down there 3 or 4 years ago . Was great cause we were back in Glasgow by about 9

Was all pretty unseemly and basically daft

Getting silly now

Pretty sure he's the best rider in the PL at present . Be interesting to hear a Scuuny supporter's take on things today .

i don't notice it then

Optical illusion , gate looks perfectly straight when you walk past it entering the stadium .

I can never quite understand your average speedway fan's fixation with passing anyway . OK yes it's exciting to watch a race where riders are swapping places , but i've seen many a classic race when the guy in front uses all his trackcraft to keep an opponent behind him .

He was right off the pace yesterday and only scored a point , which came in his first race , when he overtook the equally awful visiting number 4 . Two bad lasts followed before he was replaced by Joe Jacobs in heat 14 , which turned out to be the change which saved the meeting for us . We know Henning is better than that , so whether it's mechanical or still struggling with the injury he sustained at Berwick last year - i really don't know . Going back to the subject of the track , when i was leaving the stadium yesterday i got talking to Sean Courtney and he seemed genuinely pleased at how much i was buzzing from the racing . He went on to tell me that Stuart Robson was raving about how good the track was now and also how complimentary Robbo was about how sporting Screen and Grieves were in the amount of racing room he was given during that wonderful heat 13 . A nice touch from a rider who entertained us royally yesterday .

I'm not 100% sure why that should be the case , but the outside gates do seem to be better . You get a lot of riders building up speed and going wide out to the fence , on the 1st and 2nd bends , and that drive can take them to the lead coming out of the 2nd bend . But likewise it's possible cut down hard on the apex of the bends and move to the inside and make a place or two that way . ertainly it's not uncommon to have four riders almost level on entering the back straight . But if you have not got your gating boots on when coming from gate 1 , you get the nose cut off you on entering turn 1 .

Dont know what the story is there , but he was very poor today .

Though Robbo's passing of Screen and Grieves during heat 13 is one of the best races seen at Ashfield for many a season .

Yes . Maybe Robbo forgot how advantageous the outside gates are at Ashfield , we only get to enjoy his racing once or twice a season