Speedway: Sheffield storm back at Oxford to secure play offs place
Sheffield secured their place in the speedway play-offs, but needed a last heat decider at Oxford.
The Tru7Goup Tigers secured the win they needed to secure their top four slot, but only after coming back from a 10 point deficit, and after a heat 15 decider against Oxford Spires in the Rowe Motor Oil Premiership.
Skipper Josh Pickering, who won the final heat which secured the win, and puts Tigers second in the table, said it was difficult on the Oxford track.
He said it was very hard to know exactly where to ride, and said the track changed throughout the evening. He said: “By the time I went out for heat 10 the track was completely different from the last time I’d been out there.”
He added he changed the set up for heat 12.
He said: “It’s a close effort. Every point mattered in the end. We all got the job done and that was the main thing.”
Team manager Simon Stead said of winning a place in the play-offs: “It’s a nice thing to have got done and cemented our place there. “
He added: “We were not really concentrating too much on that. We were looking at the meetings ahead and trying to get a result out of everyone one of them.”
Sheffield got off to a great start on the night, as Jack Holder and Anders Rowe led from the gate in a 5-1 heat one success, Holder taking three points. Charles Wright was third, for Oxford.
Heat two was stopped after Oxford's Luke Killeen fell dramatically after running into the back of Jye Etheridge's bike on the third bend of lap one. Etheridge went down shortly afterwards. Killeen Initially appeared uninjured, but was excluded from the re-run, and later withdrew from the meeting.
Oxford's Peter Kildemand won the rerun, leading from the gate, ahead of Sheffield's Leon Flint, with Etheridge third.
Heat three also needed a restart, after a fall going into the first bend by Sheffield's Nick Morris. With all four in the restart, Tigers skipper Josh Pickering led from the gate, ahead of Spires' Rohan Tungate, with Victor Palovaara in third., in a 3-3.
Kildemand won heat four, passing second place Chris Holder early on, in a 4-2 to Oxford, Maciej Janowski in third.
Tigers Jack Holder had a poor start to heat five, and was last away from the tapes. Tungate led throughout the race, but Rowe quickly passed Palovaara, with Holder following suit. Holder eventually finished second, narrowly behind Tungate in a 3-3.
Sheffield took a 4-2 heat advantage from heat six, as Chris Holder led from the gate ahead of Wright. Etheridge held third ahead of Oxford's Mitch McDiarmid.
Oxford levelled after heat seven. Oxford had led at the gate, with Pickering moving into second place after passing Janowski. But his bike spun, leaving him on the ground, Kildemand winning the heat, which was awarded as the positions stood, with Morris third.
Oxford took the lead on the night with another win for Kildemand in heat eight. Rowe passed McDiarmid to take second, but the 4-2 put Spires ahead.
Oxford extended their lead in heat nine, with another 5-1, Tungate winning ahead of Palovaara, with third placed Chris Holder unable to catch them.
After heat 10 Oxford led by 10 points, with Wright and McDiarmid leading from the gate, Morris in third and Pickering last.
A bizarre heat 11 saw Janowski fail to get away from the tapes, with Holder and Rowe getting ahead. Then the heat was stopped after Kildemand, in third, fell. It led to a rerun between just Holder and Rowe, with Holder winning in an unusual 5-0 heat score.
Pickering and Flint led from the start in heat 12, as Tigers pulled back within a point with a 5-1 heat advantage.
Heat 13 saw Oxford get out of the tapes in the leading positions, but Chris Holder and Jack Holder both soon found a way past Janowski. Charles Wright winning ahead of Chris Holder,in a 3-3.
Tigers regained the lead as Flint won heat 14 ahead of Kildemand, with Morris third, to set up a heat 15 decider.
And Tigers secured victory in the meeting with a 4-2 in the last heat.
Jack Holder was first out of the tapes, but was overtaken by Tungate after rearing slightly. But Pickering then quickly got around Tungate on the outside to secure a 46-43 win, with Holder third, which guarantees Tigers a place in the play offs.