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Bright show as Tigers push highly-fancied rivals all the way
Sheffield Tigers 43 Belle Vue 47
TIGERS lost last night's opener against Elite League big guns Belle Vue, but they came away with plenty of positives for the new campaign.
The Owlerton side led for most of the meeting in front of a bumper crowd, falling behind for the first time with only four races to go as the Aces' firepower finally told.
Sheffield started brightly and made the most of a string of mechanical failures from the visitorsto lead 23-19 after seven heats. Both sides traded early 5-1s, including a flying start to the season in heat 1 when skipper Ricky Ashworth and Hugh Skidmore notched a full house as the Aces' Peter Karlsson ground to a halt with bike trouble.
But two successive 5-1s were Tigers' undoing. Firstly Karlsson and James Wright saw off new boys Josef Franc and Arlo Bugeja in heat 11 and then Patrick Hougaard and Josh Grajczonek outpaced the off-colour Richard Hall and Paul Cooper to make it 38-34 to the visitors.
Tigers hit back with a 4-2 before the Manchester side returned the compliment in the penultimate heat to set up a last race decider - but when former Grand Prix star Karlsson sped from the gate for his fourth straight win it was all over.
Josh Auty was best for the hosts with promising displays from newcomers Franc and Bugeja and Tigers will take the positives from pushing their highly-fancied rivals all the way.
TIGERS: J. Auty 12, R. Ashworth 9+1, J. Franc 7+1, H. Skidmore 6+2, P. Cooper 4, A. Bugeja 3, R. Hall 2.
BELLE VUE: P. Karlsson 12, L. Lanham 9, J. Wright 8+2, J. Grajczonek 7, T. Woffinden 6, P. Hougaard 4+1, W. Lawson 1.
Tigers launch their Premier Trophy campaign with a tough trip to Scunthorpe tonight. They have named an unchanged squad and Joel Parsons makes his Scorpions debut after joining on loan from Owlerton.
SCUNTHORPE: D. Howe, V. Bergstrom, J. Parsons, M. Karlsson, C. Wilkinson, J. Hart, S. Lambert.
SHEFFIELD: R. Ashworth, H. Skidmore, R.Hall, J. Auty, J. Franc, P. Cooper, A. Bugeja.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
