SHEFFIELD moved into third place in the Premier League table as they demolished Rye House 62-33 at Owlerton.

Josh Auty top-scored for the Tigers with 13+1, but teenage star Hugh Skidmore grabbed the headlines racing to his first paid-maximum in British speedway.

The Aussie was in good form scoring 11+1 and there was also some solid scoring all down the order with all seven riders making significant contributions.

Highly-rated Swede Linus Sundstrom did offer some resistance for the Rockets with 13+1, but elsewhere they had no real answer to a rampant Yorkshire side.

The result was never in doubt as Sheffield set about the opposition right from the start. Skidmore and Ricky Ashworth started things off with a 5-1 in heat 1 and by the time Chris Mills and Auty repeated the feat in heat 4, they had already opened up an 18-6 lead.

Another Ashworth/ Skidmore maximum in heat 6 increased it to 25-11, but Sundstrom’s double-point win ahead of Auty in heat 7 did help Rye House momentarily reduce the deficit to 27-18. That was as close as the Hertfordshire side were to get for the rest of the night though.

Skidmore came from behind to link up with Mills for a 5-1 in heat 8 and when Joel Parsons and Mills struck with another maximum in heat 12 the Tigers had built up an unassailable 50-25 advantage.

Heat 13 resulted in a 4-4 share of the points when Auty defeated Rye House’s double-point man Chris Neath, but Sheffield finished strongly in the last two races and picked up three well-deserved Premier League points.

SHEFFIELD 62: Josh Auty 13+1, Hugh Skidmore 11+1, Richard Hall 9, Chris Mills 8+2, Paul Cooper 7+2, Ricky Ashworth 7+1, Joel Parsons 7

RYE HOUSE 33: Linus Sundstrom 13+1, Chris Neath 8, Luke Bowen 5, Robert Mear 4, Tommy Allen 2, Andrew Silver 1, Joe Haines (rider-replacement)