SHEFFIELD will have two representatives in the British Final later this season – as both Simon Stead and Adam Roynon negotiated the Owlerton semi on Thursday.


Stead and Roynon secured top seven places in an eventful meeting which was won by Birmingham’s Danny King and almost saw a major casualty, with three-times champion Chris Harris requiring an incredible ride in the final race of the night to make the cut.

Stead showed plenty of class in his first two outings as he took impressive wins, including defeating seven-times champion Scott Nicholls in Heat 2 – whilst in Heat 6 the Tigers pair duelled strongly with Stead coming out on top.

But Heat 9 changed the picture for many, with another Sheffield man Andre Compton seeing his chances virtually come to an end as he broke the tapes and was disqualified.

In the re-run, Harris piled heavily into the first bend air-fence after lifting on the way to the corner, and at the next time of asking Stead dropped a chain on the start-line.



A third place in Heat 16 after a battle with Ben Barker left the Sheffield skipper needing points from his last outing, but it always looked like a favourable one and he duly took the win.

Roynon, meanwhile, scored consistently throughout the meeting and kept his total ticking over with a sweet move inside Tigers youngster Josh Bates for second place in Heat 11.

Roynon only required a third place from Heat 20 to make the top seven, and he achieved that aim comfortably – but the race was all about Harris, who required nothing less than victory against Craig Cook, who had only dropped one point previously.

Harris was left trailing in the early stages but suddenly found speed which had appeared lacking earlier in the meeting and then showed his World class with a breathtaking last-lap swoop to move ahead of his rival.

Cook, who had dropped his only point to King in the first race of the night, still edged out Barker for second place on count-back with Nicholls also a comfortable qualifier – whilst Edward Kennett will have to wait for the Wild Card picks to discover if he can race in the Final.

SCORES: Danny King 14, Craig Cook 13, Ben Barker 13, Scott Nicholls 12, Simon Stead 10, Chris Harris 8, Adam Roynon 8 (all qualify for British Final), Edward Kennett 7, Ashley Morris 6, Lewis Kerr 5, Charles Wright 5, Derek Sneddon 4, Andre Compton 4, Stuart Robson 3, Kyle Howarth 3, James Sarjeant (res) 3, Josh Bates 1, Nathan Greaves (res) 0.