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Sheffield Tigers v Isle of Wight Islanders
Premier League, 30 June 2005
Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield

Sheffield 50
1(g)Robbie Kessler2321*. ..81
2Paul Cooper1*02*21* ..63
3Ricky Ashworth3233R 2*.131
5Andre Compton32323 ..130
6Ben Wilson3Fx1*2*1 Fx.72
7Kyle Legault0102*. ..31
Isle of Wight 45
1Craig Boyce3326^R ..140
2Glen Phillips0110. ..20
3Krister Marsh1*00.. ..11
4Ulrich Ostergaard2336^1 ..150
5Tomas Suchanek0010. ..10
6Jason Doyle2101. ..40
7Steen Jensen1*2302* ..82

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

For Sheffield this week’s guest for the injured Sean Wilson was Robbie Kessler. The Tigers again used R/R for the injured Richard Hall at number 4. The Isle of Wight were at full strength. It was in the corresponding KO Cup fixture a month ago that Sean Wilson dislocated his shoulder as the Islanders kept the score tight until late on even though they were denied the use of TRs or a TS. For the second time in a month Sheffield found themselves with a real fight on their hands against the Islanders.

Again the Isle of Wight kept the score close in the early stages. The first three heats were all shared and it wasn’t until heat 4 that Sheffield hit the front. In that heat, Andre Compton beat Steen Jensen with Tomas Suchanek, rather ominously for the Islanders, being passed by Kyle Legault for a Sheffield 4-2 which made the heat 4 score 13-11.

The Isle of Wight levelled again with a 2-4 in a rerun heat 5 when Craig Boyce outpaced Ricky Ashworth after Ben Wilson had fallen and been excluded. Sheffield replied with a 5-1 in heat 6 from Robbie Kessler and Paul Cooper ahead of the weak looking Isle of Wight third pairing of Doyle and Suchanek. Ulrich Ostergaard won heat 7 from Andre Compton and Ben Wilson to share the points then the visitors hit back with another 2-4 in heat 8 when Steen Jensen beat Paul Cooper with Glenn Phillips third. This meant that the score after heat 8 was 25-23 and a tight match looked in prospect.

Sheffield scored a 5-1 in heat 9 again against the weak Suchanek/Doyle pairing to give the Tigers some breathing space with a six point lead before the interval. After the interval in heat 10, the impressive Ulrich Ostergaard scored his second successive race win ahead of Robbie Kessler and Paul Cooper who had his work cut out to keep Krister Marsh at the back for a shared heat. In heat 11 Andre Compton beat Craig Boyce to end Boyce’s maximum hopes. With Ben Wilson taking the third place point from Glenn Phillips, Sheffield took a 4-2 to stretch their lead to eight points. In heat 12 Steen Jensen replaced Krister Marsh but fell and was excluded. In the rerun Ricky Ashworth won the heat and Kyle Legault passed Jason Doyle for a 5-1 which put the Islanders 12 behind at 42-30 with just three heats to go.

It came as no surprise when Craig Boyce was nominated for a TR in heat 13 and he won it too for the full six points. However, Compton and Kessler filled the minor places so the Isle of Wight took a 3-6 to cut the gap conveniently to nine points at 45-36, just the correct maths to allow Ulrich Ostergaard to take a second TR in heat 14.

What a shock was in store for Sheffield in this highly eventful penultimate heat. Ben Wilson, who was winning the heat, collided with Ulrich Ostergaard on the fourth bend. Wilson was excluded and the race was awarded. Since Ricky Ashworth had suffered an engine failure this meant that the Islanders won the heat 0-8 and had closed the gap to one point at 45-44 with one heat to go. All’s well that ends well as far as Sheffield were concerned. Craig Boyce had an engine failure on the first lap of heat 15 as Andre Compton and Ricky Ashworth took a 5-1 ahead of Ulrich Ostergaard for a five point win. However, the Isle of Wight will again fancy their chances of winning the bonus point when the teams meet again on the Island.

Match Report by Merlin