Speedway: Sheffield beat Ipswich to become top flight champions for first time in 94 year history

Sheffield Tigers are the top flight speedway champions for the first time in their 94 year history.

The Tru Plant Tigers went into tonight's Sports Insure Premiership clash with Ipswich facing a mountain to climb having lost the first leg in Suffolk by 18 points.

But they shocked the visitors with a blistering night's racing in the second leg at Owlerton, finishing up 56-34 winners on the night, and 92-88 on aggregate.

After drawing the 3-3, in a first heat that saw skipper Kyle Howarth fall while Tigers were ahead., Tigers went on to win the next four heats, meaning they had chiselled away Ipswich's lead to six points by the end of heat five, which saw Chris Holder and Josh Pickering take a 5-1 heat advantage over Emil Sayfutdinov and and Erik Riss.

Tigers then took the lead for the first time in the final after heat 10, as Robert Lambert and Kyle Howarth took a 5-1, after Ipswich captain Danny King had been excluded following a fall on the third bend.

But the scores were level again over the two legs after the Witches star riders Sayfutdinov and Jason Doyle won heat 13, 5-1, against Tigers guest riders Robert Lambert and Chris Harris.

With the Sayfutdinov-Doyle Partnership still to ride again in heat 15, Tigers Josh Pickering and Jye Etheridge needed to take something from heat 14. Etheridge led from the gate, but Pickering found himself last early in the race. But he battled back, first passing Danyon Hume, and then finding a way past Keynan Rew. leaving Tigers just needing to avoid a 5-1 reverse in the final heat.

With boss Simon Stead selecting former world champion Holder and current grand prix rider Lambert to take on Doyle and Sayfutdinov in that last heat, Holder secured second place, and Lambert third, behind the night's top scorer Sayfutdinov, with the home crowd going wild with delight as Tigers secured the Sports Insure Premiership title.

Their team mates rushed on to the track, with both riders getting 'the bumps' from team mates, before the trophy was handed to the Tigers.

Sheffield 56: Chris Holder 11, Robert Lambert 9+1, Jye Etheridge 9+1, Chris Harris 9, Josh Pickering 8+2, Kyle Howarth 5+3, Jason Edwards 5+1

Ipswich 34: Emil Sayfutdinov 11+1, Jason Doyle 9+1, Danny King 5, Keynan Rew 3+1, Erik Riss 3, Danyon Hume 2+1, Joe Thompson 1