SHEFFIELD grabbed two late 5-1s to turn their home contest against Belle Vue around and race to a 47-43 home win over the league leaders.
It was a fifth straight victory at Owlerton for the Tigers who took another step closer to securing qualification for this year’s ROWE Motor Oil Premiership play-offs.
Chris Holder made a fast start and was joined by team-mate Leon Flint out front early doors, but the latter was passed by Belle Vue’s Peter Kildemand as the Tigers had to settle for a 4-2 of their own as the scores were levelled.
Aces’ heat-leader Jason Doyle led two shared heats either side of a 5-1 for the visitors in the fifth as they opened up a four point lead.
The Tigers again pulled things back square though as Killeen came up with a big ride to earn a first maximum of the night alongside Josh Pickering, but the Tigers’ Rising Star got a bit too excited whilst in second chasing down Norick Blodorn in Heat Eight as the visitors were gifted a 4-2 - a scoreline the Aces then followed up in Heat Nine.
Guest No.1 Max Fricke took the chequered flag in a shared tenth race before Pickering got the better of current World No.2 Brady Kurtz whilst Etheridge also contributed to ending Blodorn’s unbeaten night.
Killeen and Holder were both passed by Kildemand in Heat 12 as the experienced Dane went from third to first for the visitors, but then came the crucial turning point for the Steel City side.
Two points down with three races to go, the visitors more than fancied their chances.
But a quick start from Pickering and Fricke saw them hit the front against Kurtz and the previously unbeaten Doyle as the Tigers moved ahead for the very first time on the night.
Team boss Simon Stead took Flint out of Heat 14 - and Rising Star Killeen repaid the faith as he and Etheridge brought the house down to secure a match winning 5-1 with a race to spare after Zach Cook was disqualified for a tapes infringement in the initial staging.
Said Stead: “A big shoutout to the boys because that was a massive effort.
“We knew it was going to be difficult, so it was important to keep it tight, stay close and not let the meeting get away from us.
“That’s what we did and then we came up with a couple of massive heats in Heats 13 and 14.
“It was great to see our two reserves really step up tonight and cover Leon who had a difficult night after a crazy few days with riding in the World Cup on Saturday and a crazy 24 hours or so with travel to get back from Germany with cancelled flights and all sorts on that front.
“But collectively the lads got it over the line and that’s another big result for us at just the right time in the season.”
Sheffield continue to sit third but are now five points ahead of fifth placed King’s Lynn with just three regular fixtures remaining.
The Tigers are next in action at Ipswich next Monday (September 7, 7.30pm) with Northampton the next visitors to Owlerton on Thursday, September 10 (7.30pm).
The club are also in discussions with Belle Vue regarding a re-staging date following the afternoon postponement in Manchester.
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2 SHEFFIELD 47: Josh Pickering 11+2, Luke Killeen 9+1, Chris Holder 7+1, Max Fricke 7+1, Jye Etheridge 7+1, Anders Rowe 5+1, Leon Flint 1. BELLE VUE 43: Brady Kurtz 10, Jason Doyle 10, Norick Blodorn 8+1, Peter Kildemand 6+1, Tate Zischke 4, Zach Cook 3, Will Cairns 2.
