| Sheffield 'PIRTEK' Tigers v Exeter Falcons | Premier Trophy s/f | 24th June | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rider | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Tot+Bp | |
| André Compton © | 9.31 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2' | 2' | 16+2 | |||||||||
| Shane Colvin | 5.35 | 0 | 0 | 1' | 1 | 2+1 | |||||||||||
| Ricky Ashworth r/r | 8.06 | - | - | - | - | (7+1) | |||||||||||
| Andy Moore | 8.00 | 3 | 2' | 3 | 2 | 3 | 13+1 | ||||||||||
| Craig Watson (g) | 9.69 | 1' | 3 | 3 | 3 | 10+1 | |||||||||||
| Richard Hall | 5.19 | fx | x | ef | 2' | 2' | 2' | 6+3 | |||||||||
| Ben Wilson | 4.14 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 9 | ||||||||||
| 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | |||
| Sheffield 'PIRTEK' Tigers | 30 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 16 | 19 | 22 | 25 | 30 | 34 | 39 | 41 | 46 | 51 | 56 | 86 |
| Exeter Falcons | 64 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 23 | 24 | 26 | 27 | 34 | 35 | 37 | 38 | 102 |
| 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Paul Pickering (g) | 9.82 | 1' | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2+1 | |||||||||||
| Michael Coles | 7.19 | 2 | 1 | r | 1 | 4 | |||||||||||
| Roger Lobb | 7.19 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||||||||||
| Mark Simmonds © | 7.15 | 1' | 1' | 0 | 2* | 4+2 | |||||||||||
| Seemond Stephens | 8.96 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||||
| Graeme Gordon | 5.57 | 3 | 1' | 3 | - | 6* | 1 | 14+1 | |||||||||
| Tom Brown | 5.02 | 1 | 0 | - | r | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Heat times | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 61.5 | awd | 61.5 | 63.5 | 61.1 | 60.9 | 62.0 | 63.4 | 61.7 | 61.1 | 62.5 | 62.6 | 62.4 | 62.5 | 64.0 |
The 34 point mountain became a precipice with the news that Ricky Ashworth had a sick note because of his sprained wrist. It meant that every point was vital and the match could pivot on an engine failure or fall. Michael Coles was the surprise leader of heat 1 (after a woeful performance on his previous Owlerton visit) and it took a supreme effort by André to pass him on the very last bend. Shane Colvin trailed home last on his home debut, but not that far behind Paul Pickering. Ben Wilson passed Graeme Gordon to lead down the back straight in heat 2, but rode a conservative line through turns three and four allowing Graeme to blast around him to regain the lead. Ben seemed to get the message and ventured a little wider which effectively prevented his much faster team mate getting past, and eventually Richard's frustration resulted in him falling on the second turn with Tom Brown laying down to avoid him. After announcing Ben as the rider replacement for heat 3 someone must have told our master tactician this would mean 3-on-the-trot for Ben, so a quick rethink saw Richard Hall frantically straightening himself out. Richard recovered from an indifferent start and pushed a little too hard as he passed Roger Lobb resulting in Roger sliding off on the pits turn. Andy Moore made the exact same passing maneouvre to win the rerun. Spunky Stephens trapped in heat 4 and Craig Watson concentrated on shepherding Ben Wilson home for another shared heat even though we were now 36 points behind on aggregate.
André and Andy made no mistake winning heat 5 from Michael Coles with Pickers curiously trailing at the back. André blasted from gate 4 to swoop around the field to win heat 6 but Stephens and Gordon were more than a match for Shane. Watto led heat 7 with Richard Hall right up his exhaust until Richard's machine expired on the third lap! Three rides, no points for poor Richard. Eight heats remaining, 32 points behind so we just need 5-1's all the way to draw! Graeme Gordon trapped in heat 8 and there was no way Ben Wilson was going to pass him so attention passed to Shane Colvin who stood his ground and disputed third place well until Michael Coles retired on the third lap. With the result decided the Exeter lads probably back pedalled from here, but Richard Hall followed Andy Moore home for a maximum in heat 9, and André won heat 10 by half a lap. Roger Lobb blasted around Shane Colvin on the 4th turn, and Mark Simmonds gradually closed in for the kill before running out of track on the outside of the 1st turn at the start of lap 3.
Watto trapped to win heat 11 and Richard Hall joined him at the front after a glorious third and fourth bends which saw him pass both Paul Pickering and Michael Coles. Graeme Gordon made a jet propelled start to win heat 12 while on a tactical ride with Andy Moore unable to make any impression, unlike Roger Lobb who powered around Ben off the fourth bend. André and Watto displayed perfect formation as they team rode to victory yards ahead of Pickers in heat 13 with Stephens a disinterested last after a poor start. Andy and Richard denied Mark Simmonds any more than just one extra tactical point by winning heat 14, and although we were 14 points ahead on the night, we were of course 20 behind on aggregate. Ben joined André in heat 15 against the Falcon's top scorers, and made a good fist of the first turn to take the lead. André once again elected to team ride him home, and it's just as well as he sat on Ben's shoulder on the outside line and thwarted Graeme Gordon's every attempt to pass, even slowing on the run to the line to give Ben the win, albeit in the slowest time of the night.
Pickers was a great disappointment for the Falcons, but balanced against Bomber's maximum in the first leg the Falcon's can hardly complain. Next meeting is Berwick at home and by then Richard will be back in the team at No.2 and we will have Shane and Ben at reserve. Shouldn't be a problem against the Bandits, but the Monarchs the week after could be a handful, and the Vikings the week after that could be a real threat. Hopefully Shane will have settled in enough by the end of July to show the Racers what they are missing...
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