Heavy rain in the morning took its toll on the track and although Owlerton escaped the rain and hail showers which other areas of the city experienced in the early evening the surface was heavy and greasy in the opening heats. Cory Gathercole trapped from the inside gate to win heat 1 with the riders well spaced out to avoid getting filled in. Sam Martin and Lee Smethills are the early leaders of heat 2 but Lee in particular looks very wary and loses second place to James Holder at the start of the third lap. James is pushing hard and survives scary moments on the pits turn but Sam takes rapturous applause from the crowd as he celebrates his first win at Owlerton. Paul Cooper made a brilliant start to lead heat 3 but the referee ruled it unsatisfactory. It's André who leads the restart with Glen Phillips just beating Paul to the first turn. Paul keeps the pressure on and goes for the outside line on the last lap but finds it too greasy and falls on the fourth turn. James Holder traps ahead in heat 4 and Jason Bunyan slots in behind him for a 1-5 which gives the Islanders the lead. André makes a good start again to win heat 5 but Paul is taken very wide by Cory on the first turn allowing Krzysztof Stojanowski through into third place. Five heats down and the Islanders hold a two point lead.

Joel was the early leader of heat 6 but Ricky and Jason are right on his heels. Jason nips past Ricky on the first turn of the second lap but Ricky finds drive to reclaim the position exiting the second bend and held him off until Jason's bike expired. The Tigers are back in front but only just. Ben traps ahead to lead heat 7 but Glen Phillips goes around him on the pits turn. With Sam Martin trailed off at the back the Islanders negate the Tigers lead. Joel rounds the field to lead heat 8 and Lee makes use of Cory's eccentric lines to pass him at the start of the second lap. Cory may be wild but he's also fast and he re-passes Lee out of turn two on the third lap. Jason leads heat 9 with Cooperman on his tail but unable to mount a challenge. André picks off Paul but is unable to make up ground on Jason and the heat is shared. Paul Fry makes the gate to lead heat 10 but it's tight on the second bend and Ricky bounces off the fence and drops to the back of the field. Joel is climbing all over Fryer but just can't get the advantage while Ricky gets his head down and passes Glen on the pits turn at the end of the third lap. The Tigers lead by two points but is it going to be enough to take to Smallbrook next week?

Ben traps to lead heat 11 but all eyes are on Sam who goes around the Islanders pair on the second turn. Cory looks for the wide line on second lap but gets showered in shale and it sounded like his engine started misfiring allowing Krzysztof through into third place. André is never troubled on his way to winning heat 12 but Lee is well off the pace at the back of the field. Not sure why Andrew Bargh replaced Krzysztof in heat 13 but it was immaterial as Ricky and Ben took a tapes to flag 5-1. All the Sheffield supporters winced as they filled in the programme and saw the Tigers ten points ahead and wondered if it would by Fryer or James Holder on a tactical in heat 14. In the end neither of them was in the black & white and points went begging. Cooperman took the wide line to round the field and just nosed ahead into turn three. Paul Fry kept him honest and Sam couldn't catch James so that's how it finished. Eric nominated André and Joel while Ronnie went with Cory and Glen, but once again the Tigers proved sharpest from the gate and romped away for another 5-1.

Joel's ankle is still sore from his tumble at Shielfield on Saturday and he's still waiting to get his best engine back from Sean Wilson. Sam Martin was pleased with his performance tonight, helped no end by a new clutch and plates. Paul was kicking himself for falling first time out but finished with a good win while Lee had a poor night compared to recent performances. A fourteen point lead should make for an interesting second leg next Tuesday.

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