Sheffield speedway boss says the club can be optimistic about the season ahead

Boss Simon Stead insists there was plenty to be encouraged by from Sheffield’s season opener.
Simon SteadSimon Stead
Simon Stead

The club got a new era of Sunday racing underway last weekend as the club celebrated their 90th Anniversary in front of a bumper crowd at Owlerton.

And there were positives on track too as six of the seven Tigers’ riders registered at least one race win each.

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“The first meeting of the season can be a strange one in many ways as you don’t like to read too much into it whichever way things go,” Stead said. “But to say it was our first home meeting of the season and a lot of the boys were still blowing away those winter cobwebs and trying different set-ups, there were plenty of positives.

“Obviously to have a Sheffield rider on the rostrum was nice for the home fans and Danny King demonstrated many glimpses of why we’ve brought him in as our No.1 this year.

“I thought Zaine Kennedy did really, really well when you consider it was his first competitive meeting at this level at Owlerton. He rode quite nicely throughout and he’d have learnt a lot but to get a race win against some really strong opposition was a great moment for him.

“Ty Proctor got to the Semi-Final and he got dialled back in here straight away and Kyle Howarth might have had an up and down afternoon but that’s the way it goes in these sort of meeting some times. Broc Nicol and Kasper Andersen both showed some encouraging signs and even though Drew Kemp only finished with one point, you could see that there’s definitely something there to work with.

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“The main thing is all seven of our riders are fit and healthy - and that means we’re already one up on this time last season! “It’s a long season ahead as always and there’s plenty of work to do between now and October but I want the boys to embrace the tag that’s been given to us of league favourites as we’ve certainly got the capabilities within the team.”

Sheffield’s first team meeting of the season is this Sunday (March 31) against local rivals Scunthorpe in the Championship Shield with a slightly later start time of 6pm.