SHEFFIELD continued their surge towards the Premier League play-offs with an impressive 56-37 win over great rivals King's Lynn at Owlerton on Thursday.

And yet the scores would have been closer but for a crash involving visiting star Kevin Doolan in the opening race which ruled him out of the meeting.

Tigers star Ricky Ashworth was able to walk away but Doolan was taken to the Northern General Hospital for x-rays and a check up - and his absence left the Norfolk Arena side with a massive hole in their team which they were unable to bridge.

Tigers put in another teak-tough performance with Richard Hall unbeaten by an opponent for the second successive week. Josh Auty - again in sensational form - and Josef Franc also scored double figures.

Two home 5-1s in the first five heats left Tigers leading 20-10 and even though the Stars managed to stem the tide there was no way back.

Joe Haines emerged as the Stars’ lone hero, chalking up 14 points and providing two of the visitors’ four race wins.

His first came in a heat 8 tactical ride when, after an uninspiring third place in his opener, Haines shot from the tapes to win ahead of Sheffield’s Hugh Skidmore and former Star Simon Lambert.

That nibbled three points back and gave Lynn and fighting chance of a losing bonus point, but two 4-2s inside the next three races put Sheffield 41-28 ahead.

SHEFFIELD: Richard Hall 13+2, Josh Auty 10+1, Josef Franc 10, Hugh Skidmore 7+2, Ricky Ashworth 7+1, Paul Cooper 6+1, Simon Lambert 3.

KING’S LYNN: Joe Haines 14, Chris Mills 9, Kozza Smith 6+1,Tomas Topinka 6+1, Darren Mallett 2+1, Casper Wortmann 0, Kevin Doolan 0.