JACK Holder returns at No.1 for Sheffield who kickstart a pivotal period of their season at home to King’s Lynn on Thursday (July 18, 7.30pm).

The Australian, who currently sits second in the World Championship standings, missed the Tru7 Group Tigers’ recent defeats at Oxford and Leicester but was back on a bike in last week’s Speedway of Nations.

It’s a huge boost for the South Yorkshire side who still have work to do to secure their play-off position.

They currently sit third with meetings in hand on Ipswich and Belle Vue, who are above them in the table, but more importantly they hold a six point gap over Leicester who are outside the top four.

Thursday’s home fixture against King’s Lynn is the first of 11 league meetings for Sheffield over the space of the next six weeks.
And team manager Simon Stead wants his side to continue where they left off at Owlerton last time out - when they beat King’s Lynn 54-36 to book their place in the Knockout Cup Final.

“That was another good win for the lads and we’d be more than happy with something similar on Thursday,’” Stead said.

“We’re on a pretty solid run at home lately with our last three meetings all resulting in 18 point victories for us.

“We want to carry that on as best we can because that way we will get into the play-offs and we’ll have a bit of momentum behind us again.

“Having Jack back is obviously great for the team and whilst we’re still without Tai (Woffinden), to have at least one of our top two fit again can help us get back on track.”

Sheffield have booked Great Britain’s Speedway of Nations gold medalist Tom Brennan to guest in place of Woffinden.

Turnstiles open at 6pm and admission is £23 adults, £21 concessions (over 65s and students - both with evidence), £1 kids (up to and including age 17) whilst all under-5s are admitted free of charge.

Supporters are also reminded that the Carvery Restaurant, Panorama Room and Snack Bar will all be open as usual.

SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Tom Brennan, Josh Pickering, Kyle Howarth, Chris Holder, Jason Edwards, Dan Gilkes.

KING’S LYNN: Justin Sedgmen, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Jan Kvech, Benjamin Basso, Nicolai Klindt R/R, Patryk Wojdylo, Anders Rowe.