Speedway: Anders Rowe delighted with big debut score as Sheffield win and show support for Tai Woffinden

Tigers recorded one of their biggest wins ever with a 61-29 win, in a meeting which saw new signing Anders Rowe mark his debut with a paid maximum of 11 plus four bonus points, and new skipper Josh Pickering top the scores with 16 points and a bonus.

After the racing ended, the riders gathered in front of the fans for a picture, to a chorus of ‘Woffy, Woffinden, sung by the fans’.

Afterwards, Rowe admitted he was pleased with his Sheffield speedway debut.

He said: “Yeah, it was pretty good. It was nice to hit the front and keep hitting the front as well. So, yeah, it was good for me and definitely a lot more to learn around here. So, developing slowly and carry on from there.

He said he would try to do the same every week, but knew it would not be easy, and hoped, to progress from there and just try and improve every race.

He said it had been a good atmosphere. He said: “Throughout the whole meeting from the start to the end, we were all fighting all the way through. It was a really good team atmosphere. We all worked well as a team and having Steady (Simon Stead) as team manager was brilliant as well.”

Sheffield rushed into a 5-1 lead as Rowe took second place in his first race for the Tigers behind Jack Holder.

But Birmingham pulled back with a 4-2 in heat two, Leon Flint, who was also making his Tigers debut failing to finish for mechanical reasons after having been in second place. Danyon Hume was second behind Jason Edwards.

New skipper Josh Pickering won heat three, ahead of Rowe, Tigers winning 5-1 from the gate.

Leon Flint took second place behind Chris Holder in heat four, as Tigers moved into a 10 point lead, Matej Zagar in third.

Flint was in the points again in heat five, pulling off a pass on the second lap to finish second behind Pickering.

Jack Holder and Rowe team rode their way to a 5-1 in heat six, Holder passing his team mate late on to win, Rowe taking second again.

Heat seven required a rerun after Hume fell at the third bend on lap one, despite his efforts to get off the track quickly. Birmingham led at the time race was stopped. with Chris Holder second. In the rerun, Holder led from the start, the heat finishing 3-3.

Flint took second in heat eight, overtaking Jonas Jeppeson on lap three with a determined move, having previously been passed himself. Rowe won the heat, to card his first heat win in Tigers colours.

Tigers took another 5-1 in heat nine, skipper Pickering winning ahead of Chris Holder, riding as rider replacement. Zagar was third.

Rowe completed a paid maximum with second place in heat 10, behind Jack Holder.

Chris Holder won heat 11, ahead of Jonas Jeppesen, in a race which finished all square. Tobiasz Musielak was third.

Michael Jepsen Jenson won heat 12 ahead of Pickering, with Flint third.

Zagar took heat 13, holding on despite a late dash on the line by Jack Holder, as Birmingham won the heat 4-2.

Pickering took heat 14, in another drawn heat, ahead of Keynan Rew.

Finally Jack Holder won heat 15 ahead of Pickering, as Tigers finished with another 5-1, completing a 61-29 victory.

Sheffield 61: Josh Pickering 16+1, Jack Holder 14, Anders Rowe 11+4, Chris Holder 11+1, Leon Flint 7+4, Danyon Hume 2, Tai Woffinden R/R.

Birmingham 29: Matej Zagar 7, Keynan Rew 5+1, Michael Jepsen Jensen 5, Jason Edwards 4+1, Jonas Jeppesen 4, Tobiasz Musielak 3+1, Antti Vuolas 1.

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