SHEFFIELD stormed to their biggest win of the season with a 58-32 trouncing of Northampton on Thursday.
For the second week in a row, a six man Tigers’ line-up produced the goods in fine style as each rider collected at least one paid win apiece with a blistering start setting the tone for the evening.
The Steel City side opened with four straight 5-1s to cruise into a 20-4 lead with the pick of the action coming in Heat Four.
With Josh Pickering making the start, arising Star Luke Killeen was left in a battle with opposite number Luke Harrison.
And on the final bends, Killeen brilliantly switched to the outside to grab second place on the line to build on his first race win around Owlerton which he secured in Heat Two.
The run of advantages was stopped in Heat Five when Foxes’ No.1 Jaimon Lidsey won a shared race - but Anders Rowe then made it two from two as Chris Holder picked up a second paid win in a fifth Tigers 5-1 in the opening six races.
Pickering made it back-to-back successes in a shared Heat Seven before Rowe made it a hat-trick whilst Killeen was beaten for the first time in a Heat Eight 4-2 which saw the Tigers move 35-13 ahead.
Nicolai Klindt made a fine start to take the chequered flag in Heat Nine for Northampton - but his team-mate Lidsey, introduced as a tactical substitute, was kept at the back by Leon Flint and Holder.
Heat Ten produced the race of the night with Rowe missing all the action going on behind him as he made it four from four.
Rowe slowed Iversen down on the final lap which in turn presented an even bigger opportunity for Pickering to find a way through as he squeezed between the Dane and the fence off bend two to bring the house down with the Tigers’ latest 5-1.
The visitors responded with a maximum of their own in Heat 11 with their only advantage of the contest before Holder picked up his first full win of the night in Heat 12 whilst Killeen again got the better of Northampton guest reserve Freddy Hodder who was standing in at short notice for Troy Batchelor who was unable to make the trip to his home track of a troubled 2021 campaign due to a ‘knee injury’.
Another 4-2 followed in Heat 13 as Pickering was back on the winning trail whilst Rowe was beaten for the first time.
Iversen then claimed a fourth race win for the visitors in Heat 14 before Flint won Heat 15 to top score for the Tigers whilst Killeen enjoyed his first nominated riders’ outing in the top-flight, despite not scoring for the first time.
Tigere’ team boss Simon Stead said: “I was really pleased with the overall performance and I was really pleased with some super strong individual displays also.
“We’ve made some massive steps in the right direction over the course of these past couple of weeks.
“I understand that people will say we were against a Northampton team that are trailing down at the bottom of the league - but we can only race against what’s in front of us.
“Regardless, we’ve found our feet a little bit these last few meetings and that’s a big positive at this stage of the season with a busy August ahead of us.”
Sheffield travel to King’s Lynn on Monday (August 3, 7.30pm) before hosting Leicester at Owlerton next Thursday (August 6, 7.30pm).
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1 SHEFFIELD 58: Leon Flint 14+1, Anders Rowe 13, Josh Pickering 12+1, Chris Holder 9+4, Luke Killeen 7+1, Jye Etheridge 3+2, Jack Holder r/r. NORTHAMPTON 32: Jaimon Lidsey 9+1, Kye Thomson 7+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 6, Matej Zagar 4+1, Nicolai Klindt 4, Luke Harrison 2, Freddy Hodder 0. Sheffield win the aggregate point
