TIGERS ON TOP AT OWLERTON

SHEFFIELD moved top of the Premiership KO Cup Northern group standings with an impressive 56-34 win over rivals Belle Vue at Owlerton.

The result gave the Tigers the aggregate point as they put in a strong display on their own circuit, with the middle section of the meeting proving crucial.

The home side were six points up after Heat 6, but they then secured four 5-1s and a 4-2 in the next five races to take the match away from the Aces.

Chris Holder top-scored with 13 and skipper Josh Pickering adding 12+1, both riders seeing their maximums spoiled in the closing stages by Dan Bewley, who won Heats 12, 13 and 15 for the visitors.

Bewley racked up 16 points but lacked consistent support for a visiting side who were without captain Brady Kurtz due to illness, along with the injured Norick Blodorn.

Sheffield manager Simon Stead said: “We set out with a bit of a task in hand – we ran them very close at Belle Vue and I was glad to have a convincing win here in the end.

“We all settled in quite well; I know Leon’s (Flint) not overly impressed with his results here tonight but the rest of the boys chipped in, got the points when we needed to with heat advantages and it was very important for us to stretch that lead and maintain it.”

Belle Vue boss Mark Lemon said: “Sheffield’s gating and first turn skills were very impressive, and excluding Dan Bewley we were outperformed. We just weren’t sharp enough.

“If you just get it wrong by an increment you’re eating dust, and unfortunately some of our boys got it wrong, and that’s racing at the end of the day.

“We live to fight another day, and we’ve obviously now got to focus our attention on Bank Holiday Monday against Leicester, and we need two wins.”

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Photo credit: IAN CHARLES