Speedway: Two-in-a-row as Glasgow Tigers bring Rye House Rockets down to earth

Jul 30 2012 By Fraser Wilson

GLASGOW TIGERS secured their first back-to-back victories of the season as they demolished Rye House Rockets 51-36 at Ashfield.

Just two weeks after losing to the Hertfordshire side in Hoddesdon, Glasgow brought the Rockets crashing back to earth with a dominant display in Possil.

Tigers had Joe Haines guesting for injured Filip Sitera and new signing Charles Wright making his debut after moving in to replace the axed Jayden O'Malley midweek.

Rye House were seriously understrength and had two guests - Jason Doyle and Tigers number eight James McBain - and also used rider replacement for their injured skipper Luke Bowen.

Doyle was to prove the most emphatic rider of the day as he posted 15 points - beginning with an excellent opening heat victory over Joe Screen in 58.5 seconds.

Screen and Mason Campton came in second and third to ensure the heat was shared before James McBain won heat two for the visitors - holding off a strong challenge from Tigers new signing Wright.

The pairing of Henning Bager and Josh Grajczonek recorded an easy 5-1 for the Tigers in heat three and heat four was another 5-1 after a re-run after Jordan Frampton was excluded in the initial running.

The sixth race of the day saw Glasgow and Joe Screen take a heat advantage from the gate with Ritchie Hawkins splitting Screen and Campton.

Campton and Joe Haines then comfortably recorded the Tigers third 5-1 of the afternoon in heat eight. Rye House elected to use Mellgren as a tactical ride in heat 10 but he suffered an engine failure when lying second behind  Screen turning a Rye House heat advantage into a Tigers 4-2.

The impressive Doyle donned the black and white cap for a tactical ride in heat 11. James Grieves gated but Doyle produced a superb pass to win the heat and the six points with Hawkins third the visitors scored a 7-2 heat advantage.

After a short rain delay at the end of heat 12, Jason Doyle won heat 13 with James Grieves and Joe Screen in the minor places the shared heat was enough to secure a Tigers victory.

A Bager and Haines 5-1 in Heat 14 was enough to secure all three match points for Tigers before the match was cut short ahead of the final race with the rain beginning to fall heavily.

New-look Glasgow are finally beginning to build momentum and, with their entire top five scoring well, bosses Stewart Dickson and Alan Dick will no doubt feel the recent team changes are bearing fruit.

Only the unbeaten guest Jason Doyle with four race wins provided any strong opposition for the visitors.

Glasgow 51
Joe Screen 9+1 Mason Campton 6+1 Josh Grajczonek 10+1 Henning Bager 8+1 James Grieves 9 Charles Wright 2 Joe Haines (G) 7+3

Rye House 36
Jason Doyle (G) 15 Luke Bowen R/R Anders Mellgren 4 Jason Bunyan 6 Jordan Frampton 2 James McBain (G) 3 Ritchie Hawkins 6