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Late flurry foils Bandits' raid
SHEFFIELD TIGERS 51 BERWICK BANDITS 39 TIGERS had to fight all the way to claim all three Premier League points - on a night when they were their own worst enemies.
The Owlerton men made it difficult for themselves with a catalogue of errors and falls against a Berwick side that should have been put to the sword.
It took eight drawn races before Sheffield finally managed to break the deadlock as Bandits battled all the way; a 5-1 from Chris Mills and Hugh Skidmore making amends for earlier blips from both riders.
That opened up a 26-22 scoreline and when Richard Hall and Joel Parsons, who had suffered whiplash injuries to his ankle after a chain snapped in his previous ride, banged in another 5-1 in heat 9 the visitors were on the ropes.
But when Bandit Josef Franc inflicted the only defeat of the night on home skipper Ricky Ashworth in the tenth, Paul Clews' extra point after rounding Skidmore narrowed the gap to 33-27. The visitors then took advantage of Mills' second fall of the night in heat 12 as Clews got the better of a tremendous battle with Parsons to cut the deficit to a nervy four points with three races to go.
But Sheffield finished strongly as successive 4-2s were followed by their third 5-1 of the night in the finale as Hall and Ashworth capped a good night's work to relegate feisty visitor Franc into third place and make sure of the bonus point for winning by seven points or more.
Tigers' top two both scored paid 14 - Franc inflicting Hall's only defeat of the night - as the home side continued their climb up the table.
TIGERS: R. Ashworth 13+1, R. Hall 13+1, P. Cooper 7+1, J. Parsons 6+1, J. Auty 6+1, C. Mills 4+1, H. Skidmore 2+1.
BERWICK: J. Franc 12, M. Makovsky 7+2, S. Burza 6, T. Aarnio 5, G. Blair 4+1, P. Clews 4, G. Franchetti 1+1.
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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
