TIGERS battler Lass Bjerre admitted it had been a "tough day" in the Championship Fours with No1 Kyle Howarth.

The dynamic Dane was clearly gutted to miss out in a three-man run-off to make the final of the event at Redcar earlier.

Tigers had finished on 13 points after 22 qualifying races level with Glasgow and Lakeside forcing the three-rider shoot-out.

But Bjerre got squeezed out after a tense two laps with Chris Harris and Nick Morris going clear for the Scottish Tigers and Hammers.

It was a fine effort from Sheffield without Howarth with Todd Kurtz especially impressive with five points from two rides.

Bjerre said: "It's very disappointing when it comes down to one last race. I did everything I could but it was tough against Harris and Morris, they are top riders.

"We did everything we could today and I think it was OK considering we without Kyle. These are hard meetings and you need a full-strength team and no last places.

"We got close but just one point short of making the final automatically which is really frustrating. But that's racing.

"Someone has to come last in a race and it was me in the run-off. I came second in my race before that in Heat 19. But Chris and Nick are top guys and tough to beat.

"Now we have to just look ahead to Thursday's meeting against Ipswich. But it's obviously so disappointing to come so close."

Without Howarth it was always going to an uphill struggle. But with Kurtz on five points and back-from-injury Charles Wright three points, Tigers nearly made it. New American Broc Nicol, after his heroics at Scunthorpe, failed to score on his first visit to Redcar.