New skipper Paul Cooper wins the toss and Sheffield take gates 1&3. Josh Auty takes forever farting about and is discluded from the first heat. Ricky Ashworth is hot on Michal Rajkowski's exhaust until he thunders around him on the third lap to take the win. Paul makes a determined start to lead heat 2 with Arlo Bugeja rounding his fellow countrymen on the second turn to slot in behind his skipper. Paul kept checking over his shoulder but Arlo looked comfortable in second place and the only other pass was when Taylor Poole rounded his team mate James Holder off the final bend to steal the odd point. Richard Hall and Hugh Skidmore looked to have heat 3 sewn up until Ricky Wells blasted around Hugh on the pits turn of the third lap. Hugh retaliated and snatched back second place on the inside of the first turn as they started the last lap, but Ricky repeated the outside pass off the last bend to reclaim second place. Richard gated to lead heat 5 and disappeared into the haze. Michal held a slight lead but had Hugh and Potters guest Andrew Tully too close for comfort. Hugh dived under Michal on the second turn of the third lap, and Andrew followed suit before the lap was finished. The nice 5-1 leaves the Tigers ten points ahead.

Ricky is looking good as he traps ahead in heat 6. Josh trails the field but picks off Hynek Stichauer at the start of the second lap and then sets off after Taylor. Ricky starts experimenting with different lines and his wide line on the fourth turn of the last lap cost him dearly as Taylor gratefully accepted the win on the sprint to the line. Klaus Jakobsen touches the tapes and is discluded from heat 7. Guess who replaces him? Correct and he zooms into a commanding lead. His team mate is left at the start leaving Josef and Paul to experiment with different lines. Josh passes early leader James on the second bend of the second lap to move into the lead in heat 8, but Arlo rides a good tidy line to deny Michal even the odd point. Taylor is nominated for a tactical ride in heat 9 but is slowly away from the tapes. Richad leads from Hynek but Taylor chops across Hugh out of the second turn almost forcing Hugh into the fence. Hynek suffers some mechanical malady on the third lap gifting a point to Hugh. Klaus leads heat 10 but Josh shows his team mate how to pass him on the first turn of the second lap. Ricky doesn't get the message. Good job we're fourteen points ahead.

Andrew and Josef are neck and neck for the first couple of corners in heat 11, but Andrew goes around Josef on the third turn and that's that! Richard gets a blinder in heat 12 but it's "all four riders back to the tapes". Richard takes the lead again in the rerun and Arlo passes James Holder at the start of the second lap to put the Tigers on a 4-2. Taylor passes Richard on the inside at the start of the last lap and Richard gambles all on a wide swoop off the last corner but fails by a gnats piss on the line. Andrew is on a tactical in heat 13 and makes a blinder of a start. Ricky eventually finds his way past Josef on the third lap but Taylor has met his match. Paul and Hugh gate ahead in heat 14. Paul gives Hugh his head but is never troubled by either of the Potters. I don't know why Paul  wasn't nominated for heat 15 as he was the second highest scorer to date. Perhaps he declined? Richard and Josh (respectively three wins, and two) get the nod. Richard is off gate four and is looking for the drive to power into the lead off the second turn when Andrew picks up drive and wheelie's into him. It didn't look good from my vantage point on the first bend but amazingly Richard is soon on his feet and able to walk slowly back to the pits. One hot roast turkey sandwich later the race restarts minus discluded Andrew. Taylor traps and the Sheffield lads spend too long dicing with each other. Eventually Josh gets the upper hand and sets off after the leader but it's too late.

Race wins for everyone except Arlo (paid win) and Josef. Pre-season Josef was looking for set-up tips for Owlerton from Ricky. Lets hope that when he finds the solution he'll pass it on to whoever Sheffield's number one is then. Arlo's best home display by far. Everyone pulled their weight unlike some of the Potters.

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