Meet the 2006 Sheffield 'PIRTEK' Tigers

Ricky joined the Tigers in 2002 less than 12 months after first taking up speedway.

Fast starting Ricky had a good solid first season, albeit with the odd mechanical problem, and was a major factor in the Tiger's fortunes. Started the 2003 season at reserve but had claimed the third heat-leader position by August.

He rode for Great Britain in the U21 test match wins against Sweden scoring 4+1 at Reading, and a commendable 7 at Wolverhampton despite taking a heavy tumble while attempting to pass Peter Ljung.

Ricky doubled up for the Peterborough Panthers in the Elite League in 2004, and 2005 saw him riding for both Sheffield and the Poole Pirates. Ricky is concentrating solely on the Tigers in 2006 and has taken on the No.1 race jacket. Early form has been good with some useful away performances, especially considering his new riding position. Ricky qualified for the British Final with a solid 9 point return at Rye House which hasn't recently been one of his favourite tracks. The British Final was a disaster though with a 2 minute exclusion and two engine failures, although he did claim the scalp of home favourite Simon Stead when he won heat 12!

Ricky won the 'Top Gun' individual meeting at Poole in July with 14 points, beaten only once by Chris Kerr.

Current average from official fixtures = 8.71

Having helped steer the Tigers to their 1999 Championship win André moved up to the Elite League with Peterborough in 2000, but became a victim of his teams poor initial form. Joining Newcastle he skippered the Diamonds to Championship success in 2001, and invariably performed well against the Tigers. When The Diamonds changed their race day to Sunday for 2003 André was looking for another team and jumped at the chance of rejoining the Tigers, signing a full contract a few weeks into the season.

Following Sean Wilson's injury in 2004 André assumed the skippers role and his form led to him being re-called to double-up for the Elite League Poole Pirates. On the World Championship scene he finished 3rd in the British Qualifying round at Kings Lynn with 12 points, and then 7 in the final. André won the controversial Premier League Rider's Championship passing the unbeaten Simon Stead in the final before they both fell with André suffering injuries to both hands and wrists which brought his season to an untimely end.

André secured the services of Peter Carr to maintain his bike for the 2005 season, although he was unable to emulate his tremendous home form on the away tracks, and surrendered his PLRC title when he just failed to make the semi-final.

André takes over from Sean as captain of the Tigers in 2006 and has started the season in fine style. His leadership has generated a great spirit in the pits and has inspired the team to a tremendous start to the league campaign with wins at Somerset, Berwick, the Isle of Wight, Workington and Mildenhall.

André tore the ligaments from his collar-bone riding for Vargarna in Sweden just before the Premier Trophy final and will be out of action for several weeks.

Current average from official fixtures = 10.03

Benji is the younger brother of our captain André and so they join a long list of brothers who have ridden together for the Tigers. Allott, Carr, Collins, Glover, Jay and Williams are just some of the names which spring to mind but Tigers fans will be happy if they can emulate the success of the Moran brothers!

Benji was a member of the Buxton 'Hitmen' in 2004, and the Scunthorpe 'Scorpions' in 2005. He also made three appearances for the Tigers in 2005, away at Newcastle and home against Berwick and King's Lynn.

Benji made a dream home debut winning first time out, and almost unbelievably scored his first paid maximum the following week in the Premier Trophy match against Newcastle. Benji has taken a few knocks recently, the latest being in the home match against Newport in the Knockout Cup when he aggravated his knee injury.

Current average from official fixtures = 3.74

His apprenticeship as a joiner completed Paul signed on for the Tigers in 2005. After a torrid trip to Armadale where he failed to open his account and wrote-off various equipment he bounced back with his best score of the season in the narrow defeat at New Craven Park.

His season came to a premature conclusion following his heat 2 crash at Glasgow. He is pictured here relaxing at home just four days after surgery to repair the damage to the ligaments, tendons and muscles in his left knee.

A winter of convalescing, physiotherapy and practice spins at Scunthorpe see Paul raring to go again in 2006 albeit wearing a specialist brace to protect his injured left knee. Paul was instrumental in our away win at Redcar as his grass track experience stood him in good stead on the unpredictable track, but his home form is causing some concern as he struggles to find sufficient power from his engines. A recent switch of engine tuner seems to have had the desired effect and with Michael Lee's help Paul top scored against the Isle of Wight with a magnificent paid 17.

Paul joined Conference League team Scunthorpe Scorpions as cover for the injured Wayne Carter on the eve of the Conference League Best-Pairs meeting. Riding with Sheffield team-mate Benji Compton as the Scunthorpe 'B' pairing they raced to victory beating the Stoke pair of Ben Barker and Adam Allott in the final after Ben Barker fell.

Current average from official fixtures = 4.65

Kyle joined the Tigers in 2005 and became the only Canadian riding in Britain, and the first since Shawn Venables. Kyle was twice Canadian Champion before joining the Tigers. He rode in the qualifying round of the World Under 21 championship at Poole in May 2003, scoring just 3 points on that occasion finding that the Europeans had been riding for 2 months already whereas the Canadian season hadn't yet started.

Kyle took a few weeks to settle in but claimed his first ever Premier League win in heat two at Edinburgh. The following home match against Newcastle saw him come agonizingly close to his first paid maximum with two glorious heat wins under his belt. In his last ride against Workington at Derwent Park he took a nasty tumble into the fence after the race had finished and broke a bone in his foot. He had surgery to repair the damage and was told to rest until August, but was back in the saddle in June scoring 7 points in the away fixture at Reading.

Kyle was the first rider to be offered a Sheffield team place for 2006 before he returned home last November. Kyle recorded his first maximum in the Premier Trophy match against Newcastle although he has yet to really impress in the away matches. His first step on this years World U21 championship trail saw him crash out on his home strip following an exclusion and an engine failure.

Kyle was in the wars again taking a terrible looking tumble in the final heat of the home league match against Stoke. Having passed Robbie Kessler to put the Tigers in a winning position he went chasing Mark Lemon only to clip the fence exiting the fourth turn and eventually finished falling on the entrance to turn one! Another case of going for personal glory instead of riding for the team.

For more information on Kyle surf over to [Kyle Legault's webpage].

Current average from official fixtures = 7.63

Argentinean Emiliano Sanchez joined the Glasgow Tigers when he first came to ride in this country in 1999. After spending two seasons with Trelawny he linked up with Hull where he was a vital member of the Vikings championship winning side in 2004. He became an asset of the Sheffield promotion when he was purchased along with his ex-Hull team mates following the Vikings demise. He is the only one to be offered a place in the Tigers team and it is hoped that he will soon learn his way around the Owlerton circuit while at the same time strengthening us on our travels.

Current average from official fixtures = 8.07

Mark became a Tiger sharing the No.7 reserve berth with Tai Woffinden after the team was redeclared in September. Mark has been a Sheffield asset for some years now and includes Weymouth, Hull, Swindon, Glasgow, Somerset, Arena Essex, Workington, Newport, Sittingbourne, Boston, King's Lynn, Peterborough and Eastbourne amongst the clubs he has represented. He finished top of Mildenhall's Conference League team averages in 2006.

Current average from official fixtures = 2.91

Grandson of Roy Wilson who runs the Sheffield training track. Ben joined the Prowlers on his 15th birthday in March 2001. On his debut at Peterborough Ben went to the tapes for his first official race and sped to a dream win. Ben continues to make good progress and has already begun to perfect the 'Peter Carr' third bend dive.

Ben got the nod to start the 2003 season wearing the Tigers No.7 jacket. He kept his place the following season and after a slow start to 2004 Ben was showing some real form when he crashed in the 75th Anniversary meeting at Owlerton. He recovered to qualify from the British U21 final at Rye House, but on a rain soaked track at Rawicz in Poland he could only muster 6 points ending his World Championship aspirations for the year. He bounced back by passing Richard Hall (twice) in the final to win the Jeff Hall Suzuki 'Top Gun' Individual Championship in front of his home crowd.

Ben made the transition to second-string for the 2005 campaign and continued to improve his average as he has done every season. His form hasn't gone un noticed and Chris Van Strattan was happy to offer Ben the chance to double-up with Elite League Wolverhampton in 2006. Ben is optimistic that this will help him improve his form on the smaller circuits.

Ben became British U21 Champion at King's Lynn on May 3rd. He qualified directly to the final scoring 14 points and kept his nerve to win the title ahead of Daniel King and Lewis Bridger after Steve Boxall fell. His rewarded by being named as reserve for the British Grand Prix at Cardiff. Ben took a bad crash in qualifying for the U21 semi-final in Germany and missed a couple of meetings with internal bruising and lacerations to his hand.

Current average from official fixtures = 8.07

Tai is the son of former Sheffield and Scunthorpe favourite Rob Woffinden. Born in this country he has lived in Australia from the age of three and is a product of the thriving Australian junior speedway set-up. He is the current Western Australian U16 champion, and came over to England to ride for Scunthorpe Scorpions in the Conference League. His progress from the reserve berth has been meteoric resulting in him being re graded and moved into the body of the team.

Tai rode for the 'Tigers' against the Redcar 'Bears' on his sixteenth birthday, but alas it wasn't a fairy tale debut as he failed to score in his three outings.

Tai broke Tigers fans hearts when he announced that he'd signed up for Elite League Wolverhampton.

Current average from official fixtures = 0.00