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Sheffield Tigers v Newcastle Diamonds
Premier League, 18 August 2005
Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield

Sheffield 63
1Sean Wilson12*31. ..71
2Ben Wilson331*1. ..81
3Ricky Ashworth33332* ..141
4Richard Hall2*2*12. ..72
5Andre Compton33333 ..150
6Paul CooperR2*1X. ..31
7Kyle Legault32*22*. ..92
Newcastle 29
1Josef Franc2R2^22 1.90
2Kristian Lund0110. ..20
3Lubos Tomicek0000. ..00
5James Grieves0000. ..00
6Jamie Birkinshaw1*1322 2^3141
7Jamie Robertson21Fx10 ..40

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

Sheffield were at full strength for tonight’s match but Newcastle used R/R for Phil Morris at number 4 and had new signing James Birkinshaw at number 6 replacing the unfortunate Christian Henry.

For the second week running Sheffield comfortably topped the 60 point match in a home Premier League fixture. This time it was Newcastle’s turn to be put to the sword. Indeed the Diamonds had only four riders who scored at all and two of them only managed 6 points between them! They owe new signing James Birkinshaw a debt of gratitude for scoring almost half the side’s total and for producing two race wins one of which led to Newcastle’s only heat advantage of the night in heat 14.

Josef Franc split the two Wilsons in heat 1 as Ben won the race with Sean third. The 4-2 success gave Sheffield an early two point lead but, after a shared heat 2 when Paul Cooper had an engine failure, Sheffield slipped into top gear and the Diamonds were blown away. Sheffield won the next five heats with maximums in each although heat 7 was a 5-2 since Josef Franc finished third to Compton and Cooper while on a TR. The score after these first 7 heats was 32-11.

In heat 8 James Birkinshaw became Newcastle’s first race winner but the heat was shared. The next three heats finished as 4-2s with wins from Ricky Ashworth, Sean Wilson and Andre Compton with James Birkinshaw twice providing second places and Josef Franc once as the score went to 47-20 after 11 heats.

In heat 12 James Birkinshaw took a TR but it didn’t turn out to be the best heat for him to be nominated in as he finished third to Ricky Ashworth and Kyle Legault for a 5-2. In heat 13 Josef Franc took second place behind Andre Compton but ahead of Sean Wilson as James Grieves finished last for the fourth time in his four heats. Heat 14 was Newcastle’s one success. James Birkinshaw beat Richard Hall and. since Paul Cooper had been excluded as being the reason James Birkinshaw fell off in the first running of the race and had been excluded from the rerun, Jaimie Robertson picked up the third place point for a 2-4 to the Diamonds which took their total to 28 points and gave them a chance of topping the 30 point mark. Alas it didn’t happen as Compton and Ashworth finished first and second to complete a full and paid maximum respectively and to produce a 34 point lead for the bonus point.

Match Report by Merlin