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Sheffield Tigers v Hull Vikings
Premier Trophy (Group), 05 May 2005
Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield

Sheffield 64
1Sean Wilson2332*2* ..122
2Ben Wilson1*132*. ..72
3Richard Hall2*013. ..61
4Ricky Ashworth333R. ..90
5Andre Compton33333 ..150
6Paul Cooper2*12*3. ..82
7Trevor Harding312*1. ..71
Hull 28
1Paul Thorp322^10 ..80
2Emiliano Sanchez01*2^0. ..31
3Joel Parsons000.. ..00
4Emil Kramer12121 ..70
5Garry Stead2220. ..60
6Simone Terenzani0000. ..00
7Craig Branney10021* ..41

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

For this match Sheffield were at full strength with new signing, Trevor Harding, at number 7 in place of Kyle Legault. Hull , having redeclared their team to bring in Italian rider Simone Terenzani after releasing Lee Dicken, moved Joel Parsons to number 3 with Terenzani coming in at 6 to partner Craig Branney in the reserve berths. Hull won their home match against Sheffield by 47-45 so Sheffield only needed to pull back two points for the bonus. In the event Sheffield registered the biggest win of the season at Premier League level. Their 64-28 win consigned Exeter’s 64-29 drubbing of King’s Lynn on Monday night to the dustbin.

Any hopes that Hull might have had of getting any sort of result in this match disappeared in the first four heats. They managed to share the opening heat when Paul Thorp jumped the start to beat Sean Wilson but 5-1s in heats 2 and 3 plus a 4-2 in heat 4 for Sheffield sunk the Vikings without trace. In heat 2 Trevor Harding won his debut race for the Tigers but Simone Terenzani trailed badly at the back. Ashworth and Hall added the second of Sheffield’s two 5-1s for a heat 4 score of 17-7.

In heat 5 Paul Thorp and Emiliano Sanchez gated well but both were passed by Ricky Ashworth for a shared heat and Sheffield just kept pulling away after that. Two 4-2s in heats 6 and 7 stretched the lead to 28-14 before Hull nominated Emiliano Sanchez for a TR in heat 8. It didn’t do much good though as Ben Wilson and Trevor Harding headed Sanchez home for a 5-2 taking the score to 33-16. Another 4-2 from Ashworth and Hall resulted when Garry Stead got by Hall in heat 9 to make the interval score 37-18.

After the interval it was business as usual for Sheffield. In heat 10 Emil Kramer held an early lead only for the two Wilsons to pass him for a Sheffield 5-1. In heat 11 Paul Thorp took a TR but did no better than his team mate Sanchez and finished third behind Andre Compton and Paul Cooper for a 5-2. Craig Branney managed a second place for Hull in heat 12 as Sheffield scored a 4-2 then the expected 5-1 in heat 13 from Compton and Sean Wilson duly materialised in spite of a good gate from Paul Thorp. The score after 13 heats was 56-24.

In heat 14 Ricky Ashworth suffered an engine failure but Paul Cooper won the race to restrict Hull to the minor placings for a shared heat. The rout was finally completed with Sheffield’s seventh maximum heat win from Andre Compton and Sean Wilson both of whom had to come from the back to pass Emil Kramer. Hull had the indignity of registering the lowest score of the season with only 28 points from 15 heats – and two of those were extra points from TRs.

Match Report by Merlin