Key: + = from 15m handicap,  * = Tactical substitute for double points.
SHEFFIELD SPEEDWAY MATCH REPORTS 2017
SHEFFIELD WINDOW CENTRE 'Tigers' v Cases Somerset 'Rebels' Inter-league Challenge 30th March

Referee: Darren Hartley

010203040506070809101112131415Tot+Bp
1. Josh Grajczonek 8.90 2' 3 3 0 0 8+1
2. Josh Bates 5.02 3 1 3 0 7
3. Lasse Bjerre 6.64 0 0 1' 2 3+1
4. Todd Kurtz 5.76 2 2 2 3 9
5. Kyle Howarth © 7.18 2 2 3 1 3 11
6. Rob Branford 4.60 2 1' 1 1' 2' 7+3
7. Jack Parkinson-Blackburn 2.00 1' 1' 0 - 2+2
Simon Stead 5 3 2 3 2 4 3 3 3 3 4 3 1 5 3
Sheffield 'Tigers' 5 8 10 13 15 19 22 25 28 31 35 38 39 44 47
Somerset 'Rebels' 1 4 8 11 15 17 20 23 26 29 31 34 39 40 43
Garry May 1 3 4 3 4 2 3 3 3 3 2 3 5 1 3
1. Rohan Tungate 9.03 1 3 0 3 0 7
2. Paul Starke 6.62 +0 1 2 2 5
3. Charles Wright 6.59 1 3 2 3 1' 10+1
4. Jake Allan 5.96 3 0 1' 1 5+1
5. Patrick Hougaard 8.70 3 2 3 2' 2 12+1
6. Jan Graversen 4.00 3 0 1' - 0 0 4+1
7. Nathan Greaves (g) 2.27 0 0 - 0 - 0
Track record: 59.1
Ricky Ashworth, 14 Oct '10		 0102030405 0607080910 1112131415
61.8 63.2 62.5 62.2 62.5 62.3 62.7 62.9 63.1 62.8 63.3 63.2 63.6 64.6 63.6

My rider of the night

In front of a crowd in excess of 3,000 the Tigers raced to a fabulous win against Premiership rivals Somerset. Josh Grajczonek, who rides for both teams, opened with 3 unbeaten rides and inspired the Tigers to hang on to a narrow two point lead. Josh Bates joined his namesake to win heat 1 and then had a tremendous scrap but just held off the challenges of Paul Starke to win heat 8.

Lasse Bjerre fell victim to Jake Allan on the first bend of heat 3 and never recovered lost ground, and then was the meat in a Tungate/Starke sandwich on the first bend of heat 5. After a problem with the tapes not going up in heat 9, in the rerun he blasted around the field to lead down the back straight only for Patrick Hougaard to ram his way past into the third turn leaving Lasse nearly under the fence.

Todd Kurtz impressed me with the way he quietly just got on with his job. Without being spectacular he made good starts, rode good lines and his 5-1 with Rob Branford in heat 14 left the Tigers in an unassailable lead. With a second-string of this caliber it looks like being a good season.

Kyle Howarth seems to have grown in stature with the added responsibility of the captaincy and he led from the front top scoring in a glorious season opener. Rob Branford impressed me at the S*T*A*R*S meeting with his forthright views and he certainly put his back wheel where his mouth is with a fantastic paid 10 return against top notch opponents. Jack Parkinson-Blackburn only beat the rider who was in his team place last year, the difference is that apart from the tapes to the first bend Jack looked to be on the pace and the potential is exciting.

The Rebels look like a good team, and with Jake Allan back at reserve and Josh Grajczonek as heat-leader they should do pretty well this year.

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