SHEFFIELD’S brave Premier League Fours Championship bid ended with a gallant fourth place finish on Sunday afternoon at Peterborough.
The Tigers went into the meeting at the East of England Showground depleted after losing Josh Auty (back injury) and Hugh Skidmore (shoulder) during last night’s defeat at Berwick, but they still defied the odds to qualify from a tough semi-final.
Eventual Champions Birmingham won semi-final 1 with a 14 point tally, but the Sheffield Window Centre Tigers rode well to join them in the Grand Final with a 13-point total – just edging out a full-strength Newcastle team on 12. Somerset and Edinburgh progressed from the other semi-final group.
In the Final, the Tigers were always just out of touch for the trophy as Birmingham and Edinburgh vied for the lead in the opening six races, but they pushed Somerset hard for third place only to just miss out on a rostrum place in the last heat.
Josef Franc raced to his second heat win of the final in the penultimate race to close the gap on the Rebels to just one point, but when Richard Hall fell and was excluded in the final race of the afternoon their brave quest was over.
GROUP 1 BIRMINGHAM 14: (Jason Lyons 5, Richard Sweetman 4, Aaron Summers 4, Steve Johnston 1) SHEFFIELD 13: (Ricky Ashworth 5, Josef Franc 4, Richard Hall 3, Simon Lambert 1) NEWCASTLE 12: (Mark Lemon 6, Kenni Larsen 4, Jason King 2, Rene Bach 0) BERWICK 9: (Adrian Rymel 4, Lee Complin 2, Michal Makovsky 2, Paul Clews 1)
GROUP 2 SOMERSET 15: (Shane Parker 6, Sam Masters 5, Cory Gathercole 2, Ritchie Hawkins 2) EDINBURGH 14: (Andrew Tully 5, Matt Wethers 4, Kalle Katajisto 2, Ryan Fisher 3) SCUNTHORPE 14: (Magnus Karlsson 4, Tero Aarnio 4, David Howe 3, Carl Wilkinson 3) RYE HOUSE 5: (Linus Sundstrom 3, Chris Neath 2, Stefan Ekberg 0, Robbie Kessler 0)
GRAND FINAL BIRMINGHAM 25: (Jason Lyons 8, Richard Sweetman 6, Aaron Summers 6, Steve Johnston 5) EDINBURGH 19: (Ryan Fisher 8, Matt Wethers 4, Andrew Tully 4, Kalle Katajisto 3) SOMERSET 15: (Shane Praker 6, Sam Master 5, Ritchie Hawkins 2, James Holder 2) SHEFFIELD 13: (Josef Franc 7, Richard Hall 4, Ricky Ashworth 2, Simon Lambert 0)
