Sheffield Tigers Speedway Official Site: REACTION

SHEFFIELD boss Simon Stead said he was pleased his riders were able to repay their supporters’ loyalty in style with a comfortable win at home to Belle Vue on Thursday.

The Tru7 Group Tigers cruised to a 54-36 win over the Aces with their skipper Dan Bewley the main reason the result wasn’t even bigger as he posted a 16-point innings as the only run-scorer visitors on four occasions.

With England’s group game with Denmark at Euro 2024, many have wondered what the attendance levels would be.

But an amazing crowd turned up for the slightly later 8pm start time and Stead thanked everyone for their support.

“With England starting at teatime and not finishing until 7pm, it would have been very easy for people to stay at home and watch the football and catch our updates online,” Stead said.

“But we should know better by now, we are so lucky to have such a dedicated and loyal fan base here in Sheffield and they turned out in great numbers as ever.

“I think opening earlier to allow supporters to watch the game in the Panorama Hall paid off as we had a pretty decent response to that and pushing back the usual kick-off time by 30 minutes proved to be the right decision as well I had a late flurry. of people coming through the turnstiles.

“All in all we were supported in great numbers once again, the noise they generated was superb and even more so against Belle Vue and all that comes with it, I was so happy great to be able to send Sheffield supporters. home smiling at the end of the night.”

The Tigers got off to a flying start with two scores of 5-1 and 4-2 and never looked back as they claimed their third win of the season over their Roses rivals in all competitions.

Chris Holder’s stunning home form continued as he top-scored and kept his 100% return into double figures in the league at Owlerton this term.

Meanwhile, brother Jack dropped just one point from four races when beaten by Bewley in Heat 13.

Tai Woffinden won two of his four outings, while skipper Kyle Howarth was involved in two 5-1 scores to earn a Heat 15 nomination.

Arguably the performance of the night came from Rising Star Dan Gilkes who won two races before a great final race in Heat 12 where he rode smartly to hold off Aces leader Jaimon Lidsey.

A difficult start to the evening didn’t stop Josh Pickering coming away with another win in Heat 14, while reserve Jason Edwards took a pay-per-view win in Heat Two before having to settle for third in his final outing after a great fight with Ben Cook.

Stead said: “I thought it was a really good, solid and complete team performance and I couldn’t have asked much more from the boys.

“It was one of those performances that shows who we really are and what we are capable of when all departments of the team are firing.

“We were getting points from everywhere; from the heat-leaders, from the middle, from the reserves and that was really nice to see because we’ve had a few gaps here and there so far this season.

“Of course it’s always nice to get one over Belle Vue, but the main thing is that it’s another three important league points on the board and we’re back on track after a couple of disappointing away encounters by our own high standards.”

The Tigers are back in action next Thursday (June 27, 7.30pm) when they host King’s Lynn at Owlerton in the Knockout Cup semi-final decider.

SHEFFIELD 54: Chris Holder 13, Jack Holder 11, Tai Woffinden 8, Kyle Howarth 7+2, Dan Gilkes 7+1, Josh Pickering 5, Jason Edwards 3+1.
BELLE VUE 36: Dan Bewley 16, Chris Harris 5, Jaimon Lidsey 5, Norick Blodorn 4+1, Ben Cook 3+1, Connor Mountain 2, Connor Bailey 1.
Sheffield won on aggregate 89-61.