Track Condition – Dusty, slick
Crowd – Locals say it is way down on normal but by no means the worst I've seen around the country.
Weather – sunny with a cool breeze.

The Sheffield Window Centre Tigers went into this meeting on the back of a massive 67-25 win against the Bears at Owlerton on Thursday and hopes were high for a win at against the struggling Redcar Bears at the STMP. Tigers were without injured track specialist Pepe Franc and operate rider replacement. Havvy wins the toss and takes gates 1& 3. Track conditions were ominous from the parade as the dustclouds were there for all to see and the track had been underwatered.

Heat 1 saw a tough first corner with Ash being wiped out by Henning Bager after the domino effect in the first corner. Amazingly the referee Michael Breckon (from nearby Darlington) discludes Ash, a very very poor decision when it should have been an all 4 back. In the re-run Skiddy gates and wins by a mile. The reserves race saw a win for Swales from the gate followed by Arlo and Coops. Heat 3 saw Tigers away from the gate on a 5-1 but a slight mistake from Skiddy allows Havvy in on turn 4 for the pass, easy win for Josh. Coops and Ben make the gate in Heat 4 and are level going into turns 3 and 4 when Coops takes Ben wide and allows Hally a clear run up the inside for the 5-1. Heat 5 saw Tigers gate onto a 5-1 but make a bit of a mistake when trying to team ride Havvy out and he finds a way past Ash on the line, but Tigers move 8 clear.

Heat 6 saw Hally into the lead on lap 1 who is chased down and passed by Bager on lap 3. Ht 7 saw Ricky come in for Pepe and he and Josh gate to an easy 5-1, Tigers now 10 clear. The Bears predictably bring in Chico for a tactical in Heat 8 and despite a great gate by Skiddy, he is passed superbly round the outside by Sanchez, with Swales 3rd the gap is suddenly cut to 5 points. Heat 9 saw a tapes to flag win for the Bears and the gap is now one point. At this point the water bowser came out and the track was completely relaid during a long interval, unfortunatley everyone on the second bend had been covered in dust already. Heat 10 saw Sanchez make the gate with the Hally and Josh filing in behind and the Tigers remain 1 point up.

Ricky takes a tapes to flag win in Heat 11 and with Skiddy 3rd the Tigers go 3 points clear. The first running of Heat 12 saw Swales fall on bend 4 on the first lap and he is excluded. In the re-run Auty gates and is gone, Coops and Suchanek have a huge battle which ends when Coops falls on bend 4 of the last lap, but picks himself up to pick up the point, but Tigers now 5 clear. Another 3-3 follows in Heat 13 when Ash flies from the gate and takes an easy win. Josh makes his usual poor gate in Heat 14 but a tremendous first corner takes him past all 3 riders and he wins the race and the meeting for the Tigers. Heat 15 saw another tremendous ride from Josh to win by a country mile. Ash tried everything to pass Chico and Havvy but they team rode him out and Tigers just miss out on the 4 points.

An outstanding performance from Josh tonight who is in tremendous form at the moment and very welcome to see after his slow start to the season. Overall a very solid performance from the Tigers and deserved victory. Redcar were much better than they were on Thursday night, even though it was obvious that Ben Wilson wasnt fully fit, although the loss of track specialist Pepe Franc for Sheffield probably counteracted that. So onto Workington on Saturday where the Tigers will be looking to continue their recent good form with a good performance at Dodge City.

Match report by Chris.

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