Speedway: Sheffield have to settle for silver after final defeat
Tigers lose out in second leg
Sheffield finished the Rowe Motor Oil Premiership season as runners-up after being beaten by Belle Vue in the Grand Final.
The Tigers faced an uphill battle after losing Monday’s home leg by four points, and a 53-37 defeat in Manchester resulted in a 100-80 aggregate scoreline.
Sheffield made a positive start at the National Speedway Stadium.
Firstly, Anders Rowe and guest Max Fricke kept home number one Brady Kurtz at the back in a shared opener, before a 5-1 from Luke Killeen and Jye Etheridge in Heat Two levelled the scores overall.
But the hosts immediately hit back with a maximum of their own in the first of seven straight races to be won by a home rider with five of those resulting in advantages.
Fricke ended that run in Heat 11 before Aces guest Nicolai Klindt mathematically confirmed Belle Vue as champions with three races to spare.
Tigers team boss Simon Stead said: “I think a silver medal is probably as good as we could’ve hoped for with the season that Belle Vue have had; they’ve been absolutely unbelievable all season and credit to them.
“They’ve been at the top all year and you can’t take anything away from them.
“After a positive opening couple of races, it quickly got away from us and of course we’re disappointed.
“We can’t really have too many complaints; it’s a shame we couldn’t run Belle Vue closer than we did but as I said, we’ve been beaten by the better team and that’s just how it is.”
Belle Vue 53: Nicolai Klindt 11+1, Jason Doyle 11, Norick Blodorn 10+2, Zach Cook 10+1, Brady Kurtz 8+1, Tate Zischke 3+1, Will Cairns 0.
Sheffield 37: Josh Pickering 8+1, Luke Killeen 7+2, Max Fricke 6+2, Chris Holder 6, Anders Rowe 5, Jye Etheridge 3+2, Leon Flint 2.
Belle Vue win 100-80 on aggregate