SHEFFIELD are gearing up for a crucial few days in their Championship Shield quest and start a busy period at home to Redcar on Thursday (7.30).


The Tigers currently sit one point and one place behind rivals Scunthorpe, but face three meetings in four days as they wrap up their qualifying group fixtures.

A trip to Newcastle awaits them on Sunday (April 29, 6.30), with the Tigers also travelling to Redcar two days previous (Friday, April 27, 7.30).

But first it’s a home clash with the Bears at Owlerton on Thursday which is at the forefront of the Sheffield Window Centre Tigers’ minds.

Aussie ace Todd Kurtz has started his home campaign in impressive style and is looking to continue his own fine form to help put the Tigers in a strong position in the table.

“Both the home meetings have gone really well so far,” Kurtz said.

“Don’t get me wrong it has been tough using rider replacement because the pressure has kind of been on me and Charles (Wright) to make sure we do our job in the rides we get and we have to try and win those to take that extra pressure off the two boys at reserve.

“But when you think of it like that from a team point of view we’ve had two really good wins – but I think we’ll only get better.

“Now the season’s getting going and we’re all getting more laps under our belt, I think that’s only going to be a positive and we’re going to be hard to beat.”

Redcar are led by former Great Britain international Ben Barker and have drafted in ex-Tigers Ty Proctor and Nathan Greaves as guests for Matej Kus and Tobias Busch who are competing in the Speedway European Championships qualifier in Russia.

SHEFFIELD: Kyle Howarth, Todd Kurtz, Lasse Bjerre, Josh Bates R/R, Charles Wright, Jack Smith, James Shanes.

REDCAR: Ben Barker, Jordan Stewart, Jonas B Andersen, Mikkel B Andersen, Ty Proctor, Nathan Greaves, Theo Pijper.