Sheffield Tigers Speedway: Simon Stead takes postives from Wolverhampton defeat, including Dan Gilkes display

The Tru Plant Tigers arrived in the West Midlands without number one Jack Holder, who was riding in Poland, and without injured club captain Kyle Howarth, as they faced a Wolves side unbeaten at Monmore Green so far in 2023.

Sheffield kept the home side men on their toes in the first half of the meeting in particular and trailed by just two points after seven races. But the hosts were eight points clear after Heat 11 and the Tigers were unable to reduce the deficit thereafter.

It was a busy night for reserve duo Lewis Kerr and Dan Gilkes, as well as the returning Tobiasz Musielak who all had six outings each. And they delivered the vast majority of the positives for Stead who was satisfied enough with the display in the Black Country.

“I think it was a good effort,” Stead said. “Obviously we come into every meeting wanting to win, that goes without saying, but circumstances made things a little bit more difficult here.

“I think we covered Kyle with R/R the best we could at number four David (Bellego) had a tough night and that made R/R even more difficult because he was the only one above Kyle in the averages who could take a ride apart from the two reserves.

“Trying to juggle the programme and get the best out of every heat that we could wasn’t easy. It was tough and I think we did the best we could under the circumstances.

“Yes we went on to lose the meeting, but what I will say is there were plenty of positives. Tobi was back and looking like he’d never had an injury, Dan was looking really good at a track he’s not really spent much time on, Adam (Ellis) was looking a bit more like his old self and it was another great job from Lewi.

“Wolves is always a difficult place to come to and to keep it within ten isn’t a disaster and it makes it an even more mouthwatering tie when we face them at Owlerton later in the season.”

Sheffield head to Leicester next Monday (May 22, 7.30) with the next fixture at Owlerton on Thursday, May 25 (7.30) when King’s Lynn are the visitors.

WOLVERHAMPTON 50: Sam Masters 11+1, Rory Schlein 11+1, Ryan Douglas 8, Scott Nicholls 8, Steve Worrall 6, Zach Cook 4, Leon Flint 2+1.

SHEFFIELD 40: Tobiasz Musielak 14, Lewis Kerr 10+1, Nick Morris 6+1, Adam Ellis 6+1, Dan Gilkes 4, David Bellego 0, Kyle Howarth r/r.