SHEFFIELD step up the defence of their league title with the first leg of their play-off semi-final at Belle Vue on Monday (September 16, 7.30pm).

The reigning champions finished top of the regular ROWE Motor Oil Premiership standings and now face their War of the Roses rivals over 30 heats, with the decider at Owlerton this Thursday (September 19, 7.30pm), with a place in the Grand Final up for grabs.

It’s the Aces who have claimed the bragging rights at this stage of the season since Sheffield stepped up into the top-flight in 2021. Belle Vue knocked them out of the semi-finals in that first year before narrowly beating them to the title in 2022.

But it’s the Tigers who hold the bragging rights so far this term winning four out of the six head-to-heads and claiming the aggregate success in all competitions.

Tru7 Group Tigers team manager Simon Stead insists his riders are fired up for the semi-finals and says the experiences of last year’s triumphant play-off campaign are spurring his side on.

“These are the meetings and the nights we work hard towards being a part of all season long,” Stead said.

“For some of the lads, they remember how they felt when we won the league title last October and the feeling they had on that occasion, they want to experience it all again.

“A play-off semi-final is a huge occasion anyway but the fact it’s against Belle Vue, a good old War of the Roses rivalry, adds that little bit of extra spice.

“Our three trips to Belle Vue have all been in the daytime so far this year and we expect it to be a little bit different with this one being on a night when the weather is much colder.

“But we’ll do the track walk, we’ll have a good chat as a team and we’ll keep the lads together and keep them discussing things all night long.

“It’s what happens over the 30 races that matters most, we saw that in the first semi-final between Leicester and Ipswich.

“As ever, we’ll be going there and giving it our all, backed by our amazing travelling supporters, and the lads will be giving it everything they’ve got.”

Sheffield have booked Chris Harris, who was a part of their Grand Final win over Ipswich last year, as a guest for the injured Tai Woffinden for both legs against the Aces.

Meanwhile, captain Kyle Howarth will make a late call on his fitness having sustained a twisted wrist injury at Scunthorpe on Friday where he was advised to rest it over the weekend.

BELLE VUE: Brady Kurtz, Norick Blodorn, Jaimon Lidsey, Ben Cook, Dan Bewley, Antti Vuolas, Jake Mulford.
SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Kyle Howarth (if fit), Chris Holder, Josh Pickering, Chris Harris, Jason Edwards, Dan Gilkes.