SHEFFIELD’s away day frustrations continued as they were beaten 49-41 at Leicester on Thursday in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership.
On what has been the theme of the Tigers tales on their travels so far this term, they again hit the 40 point mark, but didn’t have enough to find their first win on the road of the year.
It was the hosts who won the toss and they wasted little time in opting for gates one and three - and they were the dominant starting positions in the first half of the contest in particular.
Leicester opened with a 4-2 before the Tigers temporarily took the lead as guest Rising Star Nathan Ablitt and Jye Etheridge popped out of one and three to ease to a 5-1.
But the hosts regained the lead with back-to-back heat advantages before a determined couple of opening turns helped Jack Holder take the flag in the first shared race of the evening in Heat Five.
The next five races would see 5-1 maximums swing one way and then the other; Josh Pickering and Etheridge missed out at the start in Heat Six but a forceful first couple of turns from Chris Holder stopped Drew Kemp in his tracks and created a path for Leon Flint to come through for second.
When Anders Rowe and Ablitt conceded in the next, that prompted stand-in team manager Garry May to use Jack Holder as a tactical substitute in Heat Nine.
The Tigers No.1 flew away and was gone and was initially joined by Pickering until the Sheffield skipper hit a bump on bend four, relegating him to third.
But the all-action Aussie wound it on, hunted down Nick Morris and passed his compatriot on the final bends to move the Tigers back within four.
After an initial quick gate, Chris Holder was passed by both Ryan Douglas and Kemp on the opening lap of Heat 10 - and they looked on course for another 5-1 in Heat 11.
That was until Jack Holder had other ideas as he produced a truly world class move which saw him go from third to first at the end of lap one.
They did, however, concede another 5-1 in Heat 12 before Leicester sealed the points courtesy of Douglas who pulled off a fine move at the end of the lap one in Heat 13 to pass both Jack Holder and Pickering.
After a spill for Kyle Howarth, Leon Flint made a tremendous pass on Kemp in the re-run in Heat 14 before Sheffield finished off with a second straight 4-2 with Pickering denying Douglas his maximum hopes.
Said Pickering: “We’re disappointed to be honest.
“We were passengers tonight unfortunately and not enough race winners.
“It’s hard to have the answers to everything but tonight the better team to won.
“We appreciate our travelling support; there was a fair few of them all stood on bend one and it does mean a lot to us as riders.”
Sheffield are back in action next Thursday (June 4, 7.30pm) when they travel to champions Ipswich.
LEICESTER 49: Ryan Douglas 14, Nick Morris 11+1, Joe Thompson 7+1, Drew Kemp 6+2, Sam Masters 5+1, Kyle Howarth 4+2, Dan Thompson r/r. SHEFFIELD 41: Jack Holder 14, Josh Pickering 9+2, Leon Flint 6+2, Chris Holder 5, Nathan Ablitt 4, Jye Etheridge 2+1, Anders Rowe 1.
