Speedway: Sheffield take narrow lead over Leicester in night of play-offs drama against Leicester
Sheffield will take a take narrow lead over Leicester into the second leg of the Rowe Motor Oil Premiership play-offs after a night of drama against Leicester.
Tigers won on the night by 46-43, on a night which saw a succession of heat stoppages due to rider tumbles and broken tapes, with a controversial heat 14 being run four times, with Tigers unhappy to see TWO of their riders excluded.
And the narrow result represented a quick turnaround in scores, after Sheffied had led by 14 points after 12 heats.
Sheffield got off to a bad start, when number one Jack Holder broke the tapes ahead of heat one. Anders Rowe replaced him.
Then Leon Flint crashed out on the third bend of lap one in the rerun, with Tigers on for a 5-1 after a fine start by Rowe. Max Fricke was judged to be to blame, and was excluded.
As they started the second rerun, Rowe repeated his good start, and pulled away into a long lead, while Flint, back in the saddle, stayed ahead of the challenge of Leicester's Luke Becker.
Heat two was more straightforward, as Drew Kemp won for the visitors in a 3-3 shared heat, the Tigers' Jye Etheridge second, Rowe third.
Heat three saw further delay, as Leicester's Ryan Douglas broke the tapes, Drew Kemp taking his place in the rerun.
Tigers Nick Morris was ahead from the start, but Chris Holder was at the back after a slow start. But Holder battled back into second by the end of lap one, Kemp failing to finish, and Howarth taking third in a Tigers 5-1.
Tigers switched reserves for heat four, bringing in Rowe for Etheridge. The move worked, Tigers skipper Josh Pickering winning ahead of Rowe, in a 5-1, Leicester's Sam Masters some way behind in third.
Chris Holder was first out of the gate in heat five, but was soon passed by Fricke. Holder comfortably took second, and Nick Morris survived a late challenge on the line from Becker to take third in a 3-3.
Drew Kemp won heat six as Leicester team rode their way round, supported by second placed Masters, after a slow start by Jack Holder, in third.
Etheridge was brought in for Tigers in heat seven in a reserve switch. But he didn't get off the line when the tapes went up. Pickering won the heat comfortably from the start, but the points were shared in a 3-3, Howarth second and Douglas third.
Leicester put reserve Drew Kemp into heat eight in place of Luke Becker.
The heat was a cracker. Kemp lead from the gate, with an early battle seeing Flint pass him. Etheridge then put in a late challenge for third, passing Kemp on the line to secure second place behind Flint, and a 5-1 for Sheffield.
Masters won heat nine from the gate, with Morris second. Chris Holder took third after struggling with a slow start, passing Kemp, who eventually pulled up with mechanical problems. It was another 3-3.
Jack Holder won his first heat of the night, with a thrilling heat 10 success. Trailing Douglas, he pushed him throughout the race, finally finding a way past by cutting inside on the third bend of the last lap. Howarth was third in a 3-3.
Max Fricke won heat 11 for the Lions by a large margin, crossing the line three seconds before anyone else. But Pickering 's second place for Tigers, and Rowe's third place meant points shared in another 3-3.
Tigers brought Rowe into heat 12 in a reserve switch. Chris Holder was ahead from the start to win ahead of Douglas. Rowe found his way past Kemp on the first bend of the last lap, Kemp falling several seconds later. It was a 4-2 for Sheffield. It put Tigers 14 ahead at that point.
Leicester secured a 5-1 in heat 13, winner Masters and second placed Fricke shutting the door on third placed Holder.
Heat 14 was stopped after both Nick Morris crashed into the air fence after the first bend.
The race was stopped again in the rerun, after Morris crashed into the air fence on the last bend of lap one, in a nasty looking incident. Ambulance crews surrounded him, but he got back on his feet with support from medics..
With Morris excluded, Rowe was Sheffield's only rider in the second rerun.
It was stopped a third time when Howarth crashed on the first bend, with the referee excluding Rowe. It meant the Leicester rider rode four laps unopposed to win 5-0, Kemp winning ahead of Howarth.
Leicester led from the gate again in heat 15, with Master holding onto win, but Jack Holder forced his way past a team riding Fricke to secure second and give Tigers a narrow three point lead to take into the second leg.
Sheffield 46: Anders Rowe 8+3, Chris Holder 8+2, Josh Pickering 8, Jack Holder 7, Nick Morris 6+1, Leon Flint 5+1, Jye Etheridge 4+1.
Leicester 43: Sam Masters 12+1, Drew Kemp 10, Max Fricke 9+1, Kyle Howarth 6+2, Ryan Douglas 5+1, Luke Becker 1, Joe Thompson 0.