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Last Updated: Nov 28th, 2010 - 10:22:29 |
Somerset came agonisingly close to claiming a match point to show for their troubles in this highly entertaining meeting at Sheffield’s Owlerton Stadium, this definitely being a case of one that ‘got away’ as the Rebels look to book their place in the end of season Young Shield competition.
With Sheffield pushing for a Premier League top 4 play-off spot, this was never going to be an easy match for the Rebels, but they set about their task right from the off with a superb opening heat win by Christian Hefenbrock, the Somerset number 1 being involved in a titanic struggle with Sheffield’s Hugh Skidmore, the pair passing and re-passing each other on each lap before Hefenbrock finally got the upper hand. Unfortunately though, Cory Gathercole was unable to fend off the Tigers Josh Auty for third place, Auty finally getting past the Somerset rider on the penultimate lap to ensure a share of the spoils.
A shared heat was also the outcome of heat 2, but it did provide the Rebels with a second successive heat winner as James Holder swept past Sheffield guest, and ex-Rebel, Lubos Tomicek as the riders rounded the second bend and proceeded to then pull away for a comfortable win, not only that but Holder’s winning time was to be the fastest of the night and the only heat won in a time of under 61 seconds.
After two opening drawn heats, Somerset got their noses in front in heat 3, but will no doubt rue the fact that the race had to be re-run after Sheffield’s Josef Franc fell causing the race to be stopped when the Rebels were on a maximum 5-1 heat advantage, and although the Czech rider was excluded from the re-run, the Somerset duo of Masters and Hawkins were unable to repeat the efforts of the first attempt to run the heat with Richard Hall splitting the pair, though this 4-2 heat win for the Rebels was enough to give them a narrow two point lead at this early stage of proceedings.
That advantage was maintained in heat 4 as although Sheffield finally claimed their first heat winner in the form of Ricky Ashworth, but with Shane Parker and James Holder following the Sheffield skipper across the line it saw Somerset 13-11 to the good, but that was all to change in heat 5 when Sheffield hit back with a maximum 5-1 heat win to put the home side into a two point lead, and with Ashworth making it two wins out of two in heat 7, the match approached the half-way stage with the Tigers holding the sway 22-20.
Heat 8 was to be another of those heats that the Rebels will look back upon with an ‘if only’ tag as James Holder hit the front from the gate and Cory Gathercole initially slotting into 3rd place, but the blink of an eye all that was to change as first Gathercole fell on the 4th bend on the second lap when challenging Skidmore for 2nd place, but not only that, as the riders entered the 1st turn on lap 3, so Skidmore found a way past Holder and suddenly a Somerset 4-2, that would have levelled up the scores, became a 4-2 for the Tigers which moved them out into a four point lead.
Shane Parker maintained his excellent run of form to win heat 9 ahead of Tigers duo Franc and Hall, to keep Somerset just four points in arrears of their hosts, but heat 10 was to see that deficit double as Sheffield hit in with their second maximum heat win of the night, this time courtesy of Auty and Skidmore, and the interval was reached with the Sheffield Tigers holding a 34-26 lead over the Rebels.
Ashworth continued his winning ways in heat 11, but with Somerset’s Hefenbrock and Gathercole filling the minor places, Hefenbrock almost catching Ashworth as the riders took the chequered flag, Sheffield maintained their 8 point lead with just four heats remaining.
That 8 point Sheffield lead became 10 points after the Tigers secured a 4-2 race win in heat 12, and so heat 13 saw the Rebels resort to the double point tactical move with their highly impressive skipper, Shane Parker donning the ‘black and white’ helmet colour in an attempt to get Somerset back into the match.
Parker duly obliged by winning the heat and for a fleeting moment a Somerset 8-1 looked on the cards as Hefenbrock followed Parker through into second place, but he was quickly dispatched by the Tigers duo of Auty and Ashworth, but the resultant 6-3 heat win for the Rebels kept them in the hunt of taking at least a point from the match.
Heat 14 was to provide Somerset with their third lost opportunity of the match as Masters and Holder hit the front from the tapes but Sheffield’s Richard Hall was in hot pursuit and taking the high, wide, line he first got passed Holder and then Masters to take the lead and what had started out looking like becoming a Rebels 5-1 now had a shared 3-3 heat win written all over it, that was until Holder came into the 3rd turn on the penultimate lap with far too much speed and took a heavy fall for his troubles, causing referee Graham Flint to bring proceedings to a halt, but with the race position pretty well determined by then he awarded the race with Holder duly excluded from the finishing order.
With Somerset 9 points down going into the final heat, it meant they needed a 5-1 heat win to claim what would have been a well deserved match point, but although Sam Masters hit the front from the tapes, things initially looked grim for the Rebel camp as Parker was squeezed out in the first turn. Undaunted Parker sped past Ashworth and into 3rd place as they headed down the back straight, but although he got to within touching distance of Auty in second place the Sheffield number 1 did enough to hold on to deny Parker and give Sheffield victory by 50 points to 43.
SHEFFIELD - 50
1. Josh Auty - 1* 2 3 2 = 8+1
2. Hugh Skidmore - 2 1* 3 2* = 8+2
3. Josef Franc - X 2* 2 3 = 7+1
4. Richard Hall - 2 3 1* 3 2 = 11+1
5. Ricky Ashworth - 3 3 3 1* R = 10+1
6. Lubos Tomicek - 2 0 0 = 2
7. Simon Lambert - 1* 0 1 1 1 = 4+1
SOMERSET - 43
1. Christian Hefenbrock - 3 0 2 0 = 5
2. Cory Gathercole - 0 1 0 1* = 2+1
3. Ritchie Hawkins - 1 2 1 0 = 4
4. Sam Masters - 3 1* 0 2 3 = 9+1
5. Shane Parker - 2 3 3 6^ 1 = 15
6. Kyle Howarth - 0 0 0 = 0
7. James Holder - 3 1* 2 2 X = 8+1
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