SHEFFIELD enjoyed a solid start to the 2022 Premiership Pairs series with a runners-up finish at Peterborough.
The Tru Plant Tigers were beaten by King’s Lynn in the Final when British Champion Adam Ellis crashed out in spectacular fashion.
It was a more than promising start to the six round tournament though with the Steel City side demonstrating a determined set of qualifying rides.
They recovered from an opening heat 6-3 against when Jack Holder was rounded by Wolverhampton captain Sam Masters while Ellis couldn’t find a way past Douglas for third.
Tigers’ heat-leader pairing then rode smartly to come under Ipswich skipper Danny King in their second outing, recording a 5-4 in their favour with Jason Doyle winning the race for the Witches.
Back-to-back 6-3s followed with Holder in scintillating form out front while Ellis worked hard to take third in heats against King’s Lynn and Belle Vue.
In the final qualifying heat, Holder produced another spectacular, smart move to cut under Peterborough’s Chris Harris with Rising Star Connor Mountain’s third place helping secure Sheffield’s direct route to the final.
Holder again stormed to the front and pulled well clear with all the action going on behind him in the tense finale and with Ellis sat in third, victory was within the Tigers’ grasp.
But King’s Lynn star Richard Lawson began to slow the race up, looking for his team-mate who was piling pressure on at the back - and with a late change of line from Lawson, Ellis clipped his back wheel and went flying into the air fence at high speed - and it was the Sheffield man excluded by referee Tony Steele, handing the opening round to the Norfolk outfit.
Tru Plant Tigers team boss Simon Stead said: “Finishing second in the opening round isn’t a bad result at all and in a series where the points accumulate, eight isn’t a bad start.
“What happened in the final left a sour taste in our mouths; personally I think it could’ve been avoided but the most important thing is that Adam got up and walked away from it because it could’ve been a lot worse.
“We now look ahead to Thursday and the boys are all up for it.”
The Tru Plant Tigers are back at Owlerton this Thursday (May 26, 7.30) and take on Belle Vue in a battle of the Premiership’s current top two sides.
PREMIERSHIP PAIRS Round 1, Peterborough QUALIFYING SCORES: SHEFFIELD 26: Jack Holder 18, Adam Ellis 6, Connor Mountain (RS) 2. BELLE VUE 24: Max Fricke 17, Brady Kurtz 7, Tom Brennan (RS) 0. KING’S LYNN 23: Josh Pickering 15, Richard Lawson 8, Jack Thomas (RS) 0. WOLVERHAMPTON 23: Sam Masters 12, Ryan Douglas 11, Joe Thompson (RS) 0. IPSWICH 21: Jason Doyle 17, Danny King 2, Danyon Hume (RS) 2. PETERBOROUGH 18: Chris Harris 11, Michael Palm Toft 7, Max Clegg (RS) 0.
