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Sheffield Tigers v Berwick Bandits
Premier League, 22 June 2006
Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield

Sheffield 56
1Ricky Ashworth3332*2* ..132
2Ben Wilson2*2*22*. ..83
3Emiliano Sanchez0203. ..50
4Kyle Legault21*32. ..81
5Andre Compton32333 ..140
6Paul Cooper2*02*1*. ..53
7Benji Compton30Fx0. ..30
Berwick 39
1Stanislaw Burza0000. ..00
3Jamie Birkinshaw33304^ 0.130
4Michal Makovsky11316^ 1.130
5Andreas Bergstrom1*121. ..51
6Danny Warwick001*.. ..11
7(g)John Oliver11211* 1071

* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).

Sheffield were at full strength while Berwick used R/R at number 2 for Lee Smethills and had John Oliver at number 6 in place of the injured Craig Branney. It was the first time (I think) that a Grade C reserve had deputised for a Grade A reserve but John Oliver’s previous performance at Sheffield no doubt swayed Berwick’s thinking.

Berwick were only trailing by six points after 9 heats but they fell away losing four 5-1s in the last six races during which it was only the use of TRs which kept them from losing more heavily. It was a great return by James Birkinshaw to his former home track but Stanislaw Burza chose a bad time to run four lasts. Sheffield take a 17 point lead to Shielfield later in the season in their quest for the bonus point.

Sheffield opened with two 5-1s and it looked as though the Bandits were in for a lean time of it. However, James Birkinshaw came out in heat 3 to win from Kyle Legault. Michal Makovsky took third place from Emiliano Sanchez to earn the Bandits a 2-4 then they shared heat 4 when John Oliver and Andreas Bergstrom followed Andre Compton home to leave the score reading 15-9 after four races.

In heat 5 James Birkinshaw (R/R) came out to win again from Sanchez and Legault and a shared race but Ricky Ashworth and Ben Wilson scored a 5-1 in heat 6 from Andreas Bergstrom to stretch Sheffield’s lead to ten points. It was James Birkinshaw time again in heat 7 and how! He led from Andre Compton early on and when Compton dived under him on the third bend he kept the throttle wound on to see off Sheffield’s top man for a fine heat win. Michal Makovsky again took the third place point which gave Berwick a 2-4 and Berwick scored another 2-4 in heat 8 when Michal Makovsky (R/R) won from Ben Wilson with John Oliver third which took the score after eight races to 27-21.

Kyle Legault won heat 9 from Andreas Berg while John Oliver took an excellent third place ahead of Emiliano Sanchez for a shared heat but that’s as good as it got for the Bandits. The Ashworth/Wilson pairing produced another 5-1 at the expense of Makovsky and Birkinshaw and Andre Compton and Paul Cooper scored another in heat 11 with Stanislaw Burza again failing to open his account. Heat 12 produced an exciting race. James Birkinshaw took a TR for Berwick but Emiliano Sanchez headed him from the gate. Try as he did Birkinshaw going ever wider could not pass the Sheffield man but Daniel Warwick finished third so Berwick took a 3-5 from the race to make the score 43-31.

Andre Compton and Ricky Ashworth scored a 5-1 from Andreas Berg and Stanislaw Burza in heat 13 then Michal Makovsky took a TR in heat 14. He won the race from Kyle Legault so a 3-6 came Berwick’s way but another Compton/Ashworth 5-1 in heat 15 denied Berwick the consolation of reaching the 40 point mark.

Match Report by Merlin