Speedway: Battling Sheffield take Oxford to last heat decider, despite injury nightmare

The Tru7Group Tigers went into the meeting in Cowley missing both number one Jack Holder and number five Tai Woffinden, after both had been injured riding in the speedway grand prix at the weekend.

Boss Simon Stead re-shuffled his pack to put Josh Pickering at number three and Chris Holder at five, operating rider replacement for Jack Holder.

Lewis Kerr, one of last season’s Sheffield Premiership title season heroes was brought in as a guest at two.

And the patched up side ran the meeting close.

Tigers started strongly, and led 12-6 after three heats, with Holder setting a new track record (57.41) in heat one as he and Kerr took a 4-2 heat advantage. Heat three then saw Kyle Howarth win the race ahead of Pickering, creating a 5-1 ahead of Maciej Janowski and Erik Riss, who had replaced Charles Wright after a tapes office

But by heat five, the scores were level, after heat advantages of 4-2 and 5-1 for the home side.

A run of five successive 3-3 draws kept the scores level until heat 11, which saw Chris Harris and Erik Riss secure a 5-1 over Kyle Howarth and Kerr.

Heat 12 saw a win for Pickering and a third place for reserve Jason Edwards narrow the gap to two points, before Rohan Tungate and Chris Harris managed a 5-1 over Kerr and Holder, to extend the lead to six points.

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Stead made a tactical substitution in heat 14, bringing in former world champion Holder for rising star Dan Gilkes. And the move worked. Holder won the heat ahead of skipper Howarth. The 5-1 success meant Sheffield went into heat 15 needing to win 5-1 for victory, or 4-2 to take it to a superheat.

As the race started, Tigers’ duo of Holder and Pickering looked briefly to be ahead Oxford’s Chris Harris and Rohan Tungate. Holder led for some time, but the by the time the reached the chequered flag, Tungate led ahead of Harris, and Holder, with a 5-1 completing the scoreline at 48-42.

Oxford 48: Rohan Tungate 14, Chris Harris 11+2, Maciej Janowski 8, Erik Riss 5+1, Charles Wright 4+2, Ashton Boughen 4+1, Drew Kemp 2

Sheffield 42: Chris Holder 14, Josh Pickering 10+1, Kyle Howarth 8+3, Lewis Kerr 5+1, Jason Edwards 4+1, Dan Gilkes 1+1