TEAM boss Simon Stead was left with mixed emotions after Sheffield finished second in the Championship Fours showpiece at Peterborough.
The Sheffield Window Centre Tigers had no last places in their opening 16 rides only for two in the final four to prove decisive and hand the crown to Somerset Rebels.
Danny King led the way with 11 points from five rides, bagging two wins in the final before beating Glasgow’s red-hot Craig Cook in a run-off for second.
Ty Proctor’s two wins from two proved decisive in qualifying, while reserve Broc Nicol showed stellar form having been called up for three rides, including two in the final that yielded four points.
King’s win in heat 10 of the final put Sheffield a single point ahead in the race for the silverware but one point from the final two, coupled with Nico Covatti’s win and Rory Schlein’s second for Somerset, saw glory slip from their grasp.
“I am proud of the effort put in and pleased to get on the podium with a well-deserved second place but I thought we were good enough to win it on the day,” said Stead.
“That’s my only regret but second place is a great achievement for the boys and the club.
“Drew (Kemp) was always going to have to take another ride and in the end we just ran out of steam.
“We can be proud and hopefully this can be the injection we need to fire us up for the rest of the season.
“I’d like to say a big thank you to the fans for coming and also to the people involved in putting on the event, it was a great race track and meeting.”
THE SEMI-FINALS
King got a flyer off gate three and reset Peterborough’s track record in a time of 57.3 in heat two – he had also set the previous record of 57.4 while representing Ipswich in the Premiership on May 13.
Passing was at a premium until heat five when Lasse Bjerre’s lift allowed Kyle Howarth to get to the front only to be reined in by Richie Worrall and then relegated to third by Cameron Heeps on lap three.
Proctor won comfortably from gate one in the eighth with all the action behind him.
Covatti did enough from the inside gate to hold off Ryan Douglas’s lap-long pursuit before the gaps between each rider grew. Drew Kemp comfortably held third.
Proctor claimed the 12th, holding off Wright at the end with the duo almost colliding past the finish line and the Australian far from happy with his rival.
King did well to hold on to the bike after another tight start in the 16th, recovering to pass Kyle Newman at the back to take third.
Lewis Kerr dived in between two rivals to go from third to first in heat one and was pushed wheel to wheel by Howarth for two laps in the 18th.
Broc Nicol was sent out for heat 20 but had to jump on Howarth’s bike when he suffered a problem yet still saw off ex-Tiger Todd Kurtz for a point that saw Sheffield in a three-way tie for first in qualifying.
THE FINAL
A tough opening four heats saw Sheffield two short of top spot after the first round of races.
It was Nicol who led the fightback, holding a perfect line to overcome Eastbourne’s Richard Lawson and Schlein in the fifth.
Proctor’s second behind Chris Harris followed by King’s cut up the inside of Covatti levelled the scores after seven and Howarth came third but crucially ahead of Kurtz to give Sheffield the edge going into the nominated heats.
Proctor’s only zero could not have come at a worse time with Harris nudging the Rebels back ahead in the ninth.
King’s cruise to the tenth kept alive hopes but Covatti’s stellar gate turned the tables again with Howarth in third in the penultimate race. Kemp was unable to make an impression in the finale as Somerset scooped the crown.
TIGERS SCORERS Semi-final: Ty Proctor 6, Danny King 4, Kyle Howarth 3, Drew Kemp 1, Broc Nicol 1.
