The Diamonds have built a solid septet with the strongest reserve pairing in the Championship but
without a proven No.1. By comparison the Tigers are putting a lot of faith in their young reserve pairing
but also have three riders who could claim the No.1 kudos by the end of the year. I would be surprised to see
the Diamonds finishing higher than the Tigers, but time will tell.Todd Kurtz made a lightning start to lead heat 1 and Kyle did a good captains job riding shotgun. Carl Wilkinson trapped ahead in heat 2 and Ashley Morris took James Shanes v e r y wide into turn 1. Jack Smith then got the fright of his life as Ashley dived under him into turn 3 causing Jack to bail out, but he leapt straight back on and bravely gave chase. Todd made another blinding start to win heat 3 and Charles Wright dived between Lewis Rose and Matthew Wethers exiting turn two and then watched his partners back. Ashley got a flyer in heat 4 only for Graham Flint to judge him to be moving at the gate. Second time he was even faster away with Lasse passing Stuart Robson on the first lap. The Tigers then got lucky as Ashley's bike expired on the third lap. Tero Aarnio led heat 5 but was mugged on the third bend by Charles on the outside and James on the inside. (I think this could be another good year for Tigers fans!) Five heats in, five 5-1's and Tigers lead by 12 points.
The Diamonds looked to be mounting a retaliation in heat 6 with Stuart and Carl on for a 4-2, until Todd wound it on around Carl on the pits turn at the end of the second lap, while in the same breath Kyle dived under Stuart into turn 1 at the start of lap 3. Lewis led heat 7 from Lasse Bjerre. Matthew drew alongside James at the end of the first lap and finished the pass on the second turn while Lasse went for broke with a breath taking outside blast at the end of lap 3 for a well deserved win. The Diamonds made the gate in heat 8 but Todd blasted high and wide around the outside and took the lead on the back straight. Charles followed suit splitting the Diamonds out of turn two to win heat 9, while Kyle picked his moment to pass Matthew on the third lap of heat 10. Todd headed Lewis for the odd point and Tigers now lead by 16 points.
Lasse is untroubled on his way to another win in heat 11 although James couldn't find a way past Tero. He then missed out on heat 12 by exceeding the time to tapes rule. Jack made another poor start and had the same problem trying to pass Carl. Ludwig woke up at last and trapped ahead in heat 13. Kyle took the long way to turn 2 but emerged in the lead and Lasse followed suit rounding Ludwig into turn three. Ludwig never looked like challenging and retired from third place on the pits turn, last lap. Jack at long last made a cracking gate to lead heat 13. Charles rounded the Diamonds pair and team rode his young charge for a couple of laps until he was safely ahead before having a blast around the outside. Jack got probably the biggest cheer of the night. Kyle and Charles got the nod for heat 15 while George persuaded Lewis and Tero. Kyle trapped and was gone while Charles rounded Lewis out of turn two on the second lap.
I guess the Diamonds will be playing the 'wait until the leagues starts, then we'll sign a new No.1' game. Next meeting is a league match against the Peterborough 'Panthers' who are likely to be a much sterner test.