SHEFFIELD Tigers will head to Redcar on Friday night licking their wounds after a 55-40 home defeat by the Bears.

The Teesside outfit were always fancied to do well with for former Sheffield riders in their side – and they displayed their home track knowledge in a big way.

Eric Boocock’s men mustered just two race winners out of the 15 as Redcar revelled in the wet conditions to open up a 20-10 lead after five races and then proceed to rub Tigers' noses in the dirt.

With former World Champion Gary Havelock reeling off four wins and Ben Wilson, who left Owlerton during the winter, returning to his home town and scoring a fine 11, the visitors were always in control and the manner of the defeat was clearly worrying for the home side.

Only skipper Ricky Ashworth and battling reserve Josh Auty managed to win races for Sheffield.

Ashworth took the chequered flag while on a tactical double ride in heat 6 while Auty gave the home fans their only other moment to cheer two races later.

Apart from that, Tigers were down on power and they had to be thankful for Ty Proctor's fall in heat 13 for not making the scoreline even worse.

Both Ritchie Hawkins and under-pressure Paul Cooper had nights to forget.

TIGERS: R. Ashworth 13+1, J. Auty 10+3, R. Hall 8, J. Parsons 4, C. Mills 4, R. Hawkins 1, P. Cooper 0.
REDCAR: G. Havelock 13, B. Wilson 11, C. Stonehewer 8+1, Ty Proctor 8, R. Kessler 7+2, B. Compton 6+1, A. Bugeja 2.