Speedway: Historic day for James Grieves as Glasgow Tigers take sting out of Scorpions

Jun 26 2012

JAMES GRIEVES stormed to second place in Glasgow Tigers' all-time top scorers list as he helped the stripes crush Scunthorpe Scorpions at Ashfield on Sunday.

The veteran clinched a paid maximum when he sped to a final heat victory in the 55-38 victory, only the second league win of the season for the reigning champions.

Grieves has now accumulated 2700 league points in the Tigers' stripes - six more than fellow Glaswegian Jim McMillan of 1960s and 70s fame.

And while the 37-year-old is unlikely to get close to toppling Steve Lawson's mighty tally of 4981, he couldn't hide his delight at moving up the rankings to second.

The normally-placid Elderslie-based rider beamed: "I'm ecstatic.

"It's been a long career to reach this point and it's rewarding to make a little bit of history especially when you look at some of the names on the list.

"To get the maximum was the icing on the cake and it was a great day all round. I won't even think about catching Steve at the top though - I don't have enough years left in me!"

Glasgow were back to full strength for the bottom of the table clash with the Scorpions after Filip Sitera returned from international duty and Josh Grajczonek returned from his spill at Somerset.

Skipper Joe Screen sped from the gate to win the opening heat and in total added 14 points to the Tigers' tally.

Glasgow's young Aussie reserves Mason Campton and Jayden O'Malley then raced to an excellent 5-1 to give the Tigers an early lead.

Last year's Tigers hero Christian Henry won heat three for the visitors as he proved he's lost none of his ability on the Ashfield track.

Josh Auty gated in heat four but Grieves passed him on the third to win the first race of his five ride maximum.

Scorpions guest Kevin Doolan became the visitors' second race winner in heat five but with Tero Aarnio retiring the race was shared.

Tigers riders both gated in heat six and after an excellent race Auty managed to pass Chris Mills on the lap to restrict the Tigers to a 4-2.

Tigers scored another 5-1 in heat eight after Birks came down at the back and was excluded from the re-run.

Auty won heat nine as a tactical ride give the visitors a 7-2 heat advantage then the fast starting Henry inflicted home skipper SCreen's only defeat when winning heat 10.

Tigers pair O'Malley and Grieves raced to an easy 5-1 in heat 11 after Doolan was excluded for delaying the start in what was O'Malley's first race win for Glasgow.

The two points for second place meant that Grieves secured the second top points tally of all time. The visitors scored their only 5-1 of the meeting in heat 12 before Screen and Grieves teamed up for 5-1 in both heats 13 and 15 to give the Tigers an emphatic home victory and Grieves his moment in history.

Overall this was a good performance from the Tigers with six of the seven recording a heat victory.

The result lifts spirits ahead of this weekend's highly anticipated Knockout Cup Quarter final double header against arch rivals the Edinburgh Monarchs.

The first leg takes place at Armadale on Friday night and the return leg at Ashfield on Sunday with a 4pm start.

Glasgow 55

Joe Screen 13+1 Chris Mills 5+1 Josh Grajczonek 4 Filip Sitera 6+1 James Grieves 13+2 Jayden O'Malley 7+1 Mason Campton 7+1

Scunthorpe 38

Kevin Doolan (G) 5 Tero Aarnio 2+1 Christian Henry (G) 13 Tom Armstrong R/R Josh Auty 12 Ashley Birks 4+1 Michael Palm Toft 2