Speedway: We just weren't at the races admits Sheffield Tigers ace

Marc Bates offered no excuses for his Sheffield side after heavy defeat at Glasgow.
Sheffield TigersSheffield Tigers
Sheffield Tigers

They went into the meeting without Jason Garrity who suffered a hand injury when riding in the Elite League at Belle Vue with Coventry.

Garrity is in line to return for Thursday’s trip to Ipswich and the League Cup semi-final first leg visit to Somerset 24-hours later.

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Boss Bates is backing his side to bounce back with two road trips ahead of the Premier League Riders’ Championship at Owlerton on Sunday.

“Glasgow are a strong side; they were just much better than us on the day” Bates said. “Obviously Jason was missing, and Dimitri Berge has been up most of the night travelling back from his World Longtrack meeting which didn’t help. Josh has climbed off his sick bed after having tonsillitis to try and ride for the team but he struggled - it was just a bad afternoon for us.

“All the lads have tried their best but it wasn’t good enough. We still have a good opportunity to make the play-offs, so we’ll try and pick ourselves up and get something from Ipswich on Thursday.”

Sunday’s showpiece event is expected to pull in a bumper crowd with representatives from every Premier League club doing battle.

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Sheffield have both Jason Garrity and Simon Stead included in the field with Stead looking to reclaim the title he has won before.

British Speedway Chairman Keith Chapman said: “We are delighted to be staging the prestigious Championship at Sheffield again. There are certain events which are a commercial success for the sport and this is one of them, it always seems to be a winner at Sheffield. It’s always fast and exciting with a big crowd. It’s one of the highlights of the calendar at Premier League level. I wouldn’t like to pick a winner, either. It’s so hard to predict and it all comes down to one race, one final, to decide the champion.

“It should be a night to remember.”