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Workington Comets v Sheffield Tigers
PL Playoff (QF), 30 September 2006
Derwent Park, Workington

Workington 46
1Garry Stead232*33 ..131
2Alan Mogridge0123. ..60
3Tomasz Piszcz0002. ..20
4Rusty Harrison2222. ..80
5James Wright33101 ..80
6(g)Danny Warwick12*1*.. ..42
7(g)Craig Branney3001*1* ..52
Sheffield 44
1Ricky Ashworth33322 ..130
2Ben Wilson1132*0 ..71
3Emiliano Sanchez11*03. ..51
4Kyle Legault3210. ..60
5(g)Kauko NieminenR231*. ..61
6Paul Cooper20130 ..60
7(g)David Speight010.. ..10

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

Workington turned out a reserve pairing of Daniel Warwick (No. 6 ) and Craig Branney (No. 7) for this match while Sheffield had Kauko Nieminen guesting for Andre Compton at number 5 and David Speight at number 7 replacing Mark Thompson who had broken down en route to the track.

With what looked like a manageable 13 points to pull back from the first leg it looked as though this would be a close run affair but Workington never looked like clawing back the deficit. They never led by more than 4 points as Sheffield contained them mainly by producing more race winners than the Comets. Six of the Tigers produced a race win and only a last heat 4-2 gave the home side a win on the night.

It was a ding-dong battle over the opening races. Sheffield struck first with an opening race win from Ricky Ashworth from Garry Stead and Ben Wilson took third for a 2-4. Workington responded with a 4-2 in the reserves race won by Craig Branney to square things again. Sheffield replied with another 2-4 in heat 3. Kyle Legault won from Rusty Harrison with Emiliano Sanchez third to put the Tigers two points ahead again but in heat 4 Workington turned the two point lead round with a 5-1 from James Wright and Daniel Warwick after Kauko Nieminen suffered an engine failure on the second lap while in second place. David Speight held third place until the last bend of the third lap when Warwick passed him. This took the score to 13-11 after the opening four races.

Back came Sheffield again with yet another 2-4 in heat 5. Ricky Ashworth won for the second time from Rusty Harrison while Ben Wilson passed Tomasz Piszcz for the third place point which levelled the match at 15-15. Workington struck again in heat 6 by taking a 4-2 from Garry Stead and Alan Mogridge split by Kauko Nieminen to regain a two point lead and this was followed by two shared heats. James Wright took the win in heat 7 from Legault and Sanchez while Ben Wilson did likewise in heat 8 from Mogridge and Warwick. The score after eight races stood at 25-23 and Workington now needed a big push to close the gap if they were to challenge for a place in the semi-finals.

Heat 9 brought them no joy as Sheffield levelled the scores again. Kauko Nieminen rounded race leader Rusty Harrison while Paul Cooper beat the disappointing Tomasz Piszcz for a 2-4 but Workington hit straight back in heat 10. Alan Mogridge and Garry Stead produced a 5-1 ahead of Kyle Legault who challenged Stead hard. Workington led by four points now but their lead was wiped out in heat 11 as Sheffield responded in kind. Ashworth and Wilson were fast away and survived a late challenge by James Wright to level the match again. Paul Cooper then had an impressive win for Sheffield comfortably beating Tomasz Piszcz and Craig Branney to keep the scores tied after 12 heats at 36-36.

Sheffield sealed the aggregate win by sharing heat 13. Ashworth and Nieminen gated but Garry Stead passed Nieminen on the second bend then Ashworth on the second lap with James Wright stuck at the back. Heat 14 was shared too. Emiliano Sanchez just pipped Harrison on the line with Branney third leaving the scores tied at 42-42 with one race to go. Garry Stead won the last race from Ricky Ashworth but James Wright took third place ahead of Ben Wilson to give the Comets the consolation of winning the match.

Match Report by Merlin