Sheffield 'Pirtek' Tigers Match Reports 2003

Richard Hall and James Birkinshaw rode their bollocks off and fully deserved to have a hand on the KO Cup but sadly it was not to be. Brent may have been a saviour to us on our recent travels but unless Owlerton is almost under water he hasn't a chance here. Couple that with Sean running consecutive lasts and being unable to pass Seb Tressarieu for the odd point and another piece of silverware has gone adrift. Ah well. All the more to fight for next year!!

Rory Schlein returned to his Conference League 'home' track intent on showing us what progress he's made. His first outing saw him elbow Paul Pickering out of his way into the first turn, but Pickers is on fire at the moment and soon put the young Aussie in his place. Heat 8 saw Rory trap first, and when Andy Moore tried the wide line out of turn 4 he found the door closed firmly in his face. Andy didn't make the same mistake next time out, and the pointless Ricky Ashworth redeemed himself with a glorious outside swoop on the very last bend. Paul Pickering made no bones about stitching Rory up on the first turn of heat 13, and then set out after Frede Schott whom he passed on the back straight on lap 2. Heat 15 saw Andy and Rory scrapping once again, and after two laps when there just wasn't enough room between Rory's back wheel and the fence Andy switched to a different tack. His tight line on the 1st and 2nd turns didn't quite achieve the objective, but Andy certainly made the inside of the 3rd turn pay (eat your heart out Peter Carr!) and it was a thoroughly pissed-off young Aussie who dumped his bike by the pit gate before storming off the track!

Racing in the early stages of this meeting was poor as the riders struggled on a grippy track. Carl Stonehewer was the pick of the bunch and rode unbeaten to qualify directly to the final. Adam Shields dropped just one point to Carl, and was involved in some of the best races of the night, especially a thrilling last bend pass of Garry Stead in heat 19 even though second place would have made no difference to the result. Sean chose gate one in the semi-final and nailed on of his best starts to make it into the final. Carl off gate one, and Adam off gate two had both previously beaten Sean, and when they gated ahead in the final it looked to be all over, but Sean swept around Carl out of turn two and exploited the wide open gap on the inside of turn 3 to draw level with Adam. Rubbing shoulders down the home straight Sean powered tight into turn 1 before drifting out to the fast line out of turn 2 and after that was able to pull steadily clear to win in the fastest time of the night.

Being made favourite by the bookmakers, coupled with home track advantage must have put a lot of extra pressure on Sean but he certainly rose to the occasion and having passed his two main rivals in the final he must surely be hailed a very worthy champion.

p.s. Lovely to see James Grieves in good health!

Elite league Eastbourne 'weakened' their side to step down a division by introducing Wimbledon, Wolverhampton & Belle Vue's Mark Burrows, and the IOW's Owlerton specialist Adam Shields. The resulting squad achieved what Coventry and Belle Vue had previously failed to do and ended the Tigers 5 year, 125 match unbeaten home sequence.

To make it a real night for the record books Adam Shields first equalled the 4 year old track record of 60.3 secs in heat 9, then Sean Wilson made it 60.2 in heat 10, before Mark Loram scorched around in 60.0 in heat 11. What chance someone will go under 1 minute in the PLRC on Sunday?

Can someone explain to me why it was that Matt Read rode at No.4 the other week (13 Sept) with Joonas at reserve, but last night Matt was at reserve and Joonas at No.4? I know the Elite league sides make the rules up as they go along in this competition but surely thay can't juggle averages as well?

Neil Machin paid tribute to the Tigers who all played their part in this semi-final victory against a well coordinated Hammers side who did their best to deny the Tigers the chance to defend the trophy they won last year. Andy Moore's crucial Golden victory in heat 14 sealed the win and Sean Wilson received the 'Rider of the night' trophy much to the displeasure of the home fans.

Emil Kramer was the pick of the bunch for the visitors. Garry Stead suffered an engine failure exiting the last bend in heat 4 and never looked on the pace after that. Steven Bishop was slow and scored his points when James Birkinshaw's bike expired on the last lap of heat 14. Shaun Tacey bounced back from two lasts and passed both Ben and Ross on the second lap of heat 8. Simon failed to impress, and the Conference League riders champion was way off the pace. Last but not least Paul Thorp, although if I wrote the way he rode I wouldn't be able to finish this sentence. He trapped (twice) in the lead in heat 11 to take a convincing victory, but in heats 9 and 13 when he didn't anticipate the start he just couldn't be bothered to do 4 laps.

Sean recovered from mechanical problems first time out to record 5 comfortable race wins, Ross held off Thorp to win heat 1 and Ricky claimed a fine paid maximum. James also suffered mechanically in his last ride, and after a flyer in heat 2 Ben looked to be tiring. Richard Hall will be a belter when he learns how to gate, but my rider of the night was Andy Moore who, on his way to a fine paid maximum, recorded the fastest time for some 4 years as he came within 0.1 secs of the track record in heat 3.

With the League championship heading north of the border the Tigers knuckled down to the task of defending their K.O. Cup. The first leg was 'rained off' due to the absence of Joonas Kylmakorpi so the Tigers just had to concentrate on building up a healthy lead to take to Purfleet on the 19th.

They started in style with Sean shepherding Ross to a maximum in heat 1, and Richard Hall passed Daniel King to extend the lead in heat 2. Trailing at the back Daniel drifted very wide exiting the last bend and took an untidy tumble as he clipped the fence injuring his hand in the process. Heat 3 saw Ricky leading until Andy took a tumble back in 3rd place. Leigh Lanham led the restart and cleverly contained Ricky's last lap 3rd bend challenge by glueing him to the white line.

Sean won heat 4 but the biggest cheer went to rookie Richard Hall who grabbed a handfull of throttle to sweep past Grand Prix rider Joonas Kylmakorpi to follow his skipper home for another 5-1. Ricky outpaced Kelvin to win heat 5, and Joonas trailed Sean and Ross in heat 6.

Then the pissing about started. Leigh was nominated as a golden joker in heat 7, and can consider himself lucky that Andy Moore's machine packed in moments after Andy had swept into the lead exiting the 4th bend on lap 3. Rider replacement Kelvin was similarly nominated in heat 8 but trailed behind Ross, and then Joonas failed to make full use of his joker in heat 9 following Andy home, with Ricky never recovering from a piss poor start. Sean blasted around Leigh on the 3rd turn to win heat 10, and Ross won heat 11 from Kelvin with James Birkinshaw right on his heels. Ricky bounced back to claim heat 12, but again missed out in heat 13 while his skipper cruised to another win.

Leigh Lanham was made a golden double tactical susbstitute in heat 14, but although he passed his team mate by the 3rd bend he never even got on terms with young Andy and James who both looked like their tails were on fire. Ross got the nod for heat 15 but was squeezed out in a hectic first bend while Sean put the finishing touches to his paid maximum. Sixteen points ahead, and all those stupid jokers to play with when we travel down to Purfleet in 2 weeks time. Rider replacement for André only generated 6 points tonight (although equally Henning Bager should have been worth more than the 4 points his replacements scored) so it's fingers crossed that André will be properly recovered in time for the return leg.

The Racers, already weakened by injuries to Phil Morris and Chris Schramm, were without both of their new signings. Jonas has a Danish meeting but Janusz Kolodziej's absence was never explained. With Richard Hall deputizing for the Racers as a heat leader terrace talk was of how close to 70 points we would get. Thankfully the opportunity was taken to give Luke Priest a couple of rides at No.8 and it demonstrated that he's not quite ready to step up just yet.

Ross Brady meekly let both Racers past on the first lap of heat 1, but was only beaten by the determined Gary Stead after that. James was good value for his points and swept past Andrew Appleton to win heat 7 while Ricky (despite another tumble) only lost his maximum to Gary Stead in heat 15. Andy Moore was flying and he and Sean never looked like being caught.

Guests Gary Stead and Adam Allott top scored for the visitors, but to be honest that doesn't mean much!

Predictably Scud was the pick of the visitors, but he even managed to alienate his 1st bend fan club when he dumped Ross into the fence in heat 8. Ross led the rerun briefly but when Scud got alongside him into turn 3 on the second lap he wisely chose not to contest the point.

The skipper was in superb form and never looked like being caught and received solid back-up from his colleagues. James looked down on power, and the battle of the Prowlers never really materialised but I suppose that Richard came out on top despite his engine problems.

A big win for the Wolf Cubs as the Prowlers struggled on the tight Monmore Green circuit. Every one of the Prowlers fell at least once but it wasn't only our lads who found conditions difficult as no fewer than five of the Wolf Cubs also came adrift.

A real 'nail-biter' of a finish from the kids against the 'champions elect'. Michael Mitchell managed two laps this meeting, falling as he diced with Nick Simmons and damaging his knee ligaments. Paul Cooper on his debut passed Matthew Wright on the 1st turn of lap 4 to follow Dave Speight home. He then inherited the lead when Richard Hall shed a chain in heat 6, only for Nick Simmons to pass him before the race was stopped. He rode a tidy line in heat 8 and was in a comfortable 3rd when he threw a chain in heat 12 but all in all it looks as though the Prowlers have unearthed another tasty prospect.

Heat 5 was a corker with Benji Compton desperately trying to push Luke Priest home ahead of James Brundle. James tried the wide line on every turn but just couldn't get the advantage until a supreme effort on the last bend earned him the point. Top scorer (don't believe the official site!) Richard Hall was in a different league today which may be summed up by heat 10 when having gated last he passed Paul on the 2nd turn of the 1st lap, Lee Hodgson on the 2nd turn a lap later, and then James Brundle on the 2nd turn on lap 3, and then went on to win in the fastest time of the evening! This is the rider who will ride for the Falcons AGAINST us on Thursday!!

Only Ben wasn't able to take the fight to the Rebels, but even he denied Graeme Gordon in heat 12. Ross was only beaten by Glenn Cunningham (twice), and James was also good value on his way to paid 10. Mark Lemon may have had a nightmare meeting, but the Tigers will be 'up for it' when they venture South for the rematch...