SHEFFIELD Tigers picked up another away point after a titanic struggle in South Wales on Saturday night.
Eric Boocock’s side mounted a dramatic recovery from twelve points down against the revamped Wasps, and levelled the scores with two heats to go, only for the home side to edge to victory on the night.
With recent signing Justin Sedgmen in fine form, Newport collected back to back 5-1s in Heats 5 and 6 to move into a 24-12 lead, and Tigers looked to be up against it in terms of collecting any Premier League points.
Josh Auty’s tactical ride in Heat 7 was negated by Leigh Lanham’s race win, but the meeting began to turn with a 5-1 from reserve Simon Lambert with Shane Parker two races later.
Skipper Ricky Ashworth held Lanham at bay to win Heat 11 and reduce the gap to six points, and the comeback continued with Auty and Lambert taking maximum points in the next race to leave the scores at 38-36.
Home debutant Jason Doyle was disqualified from Heat 13 after falling when trying to pass Ashworth, and Tigers held a 5-1 in the re-run until Lanham managed to move inside Ashworth at the start of the last lap.
With two heats to go it was anyone’s match, but Robin Aspegren got the better of Lambert in Heat 14 with Mark Jones taking a vital third to put Newport back in front – and Lanham controlled the decider for another 4-2 ahead of Tigers’ top scorer Auty, as Parker ground to a halt.
NEWPORT 48: Leigh Lanham 16, Justin Sedgmen 13+1, Robin Aspegren 9+1, Jason Doyle 6+1, Mark Jones 4, Todd Kurtz 0, Kyle Legault r/r.
