Sheffield 52 Rye House 38

(Premier League; Thursday, July 3rd 2014)

The Silver Ski Rockets were very much in contention for the first half of their Premier League match at Sheffield, before slipping to a 52-38 defeat with three falls proving very costly in the final analysis.

Luke Bowen and Jason Bunyan had given the Rockets early hope with race victories, before the first of those incidents arrived in Heat 7. Taylor Poole went down and stayed down - with the Rockets holding a 5-1 position via Mathieu Tresarrieu and Jason Garrity when the referee was forced to stop the action. Ty Procter made the most of his second chance by winning the re-run to save a 3-3 and get the Tigers out of jail.

Still poised at 24-18, the match then started to run away from Rye as Stefan Nielsen hit the deck while battling Josh Bates for supremacy in the very next heat. The awarded 5-1 took the Tigers clear to 26-16, and any Rockets’ aims of salvaging something from the fixture took another major tumble – figuratively - when Jason Bunyan fell – literally - when nominated for double points in the next race.

Steve Boxall took the chequered in that one, and Tresarrieu was to follow up with two wins of his own – the second as part of a 5-1 with Bunyan after Leigh Lanham had been excluded, to briefly been the score back to 39-33 - but the real damage had already been done.

The Rockets will be aiming to bounce back when they entertain Workington at Rye House on Saturday (7pm start). Nathan Greaves covers for Tresarrieu, who is involved in a World Long Track Qualifier, while the Comets operate Rider-Replacement for ankle ligament victim Kyle Howarth.

Rye House scorers:

Mathieu Tresarrieu 11+1 (5 rides), Jason Garrity 7+2 (5), Jason Bunyan 7+1 (5 rides, inc 0 as a TR), Edward Kennett 5 (4), Luke Bowen 4 (4), Steve Boxall 4 (4), Stefan Nielsen 0 (3)

Sheffield scorers:

Simon Stead 12 (5 rides), Ty Proctor 11+1 (4 rides, max), Taylor Poole 9+1 (5), Josh Bates 7+1 (4), Leigh Lanham 6+1 (4), Simon Nielsen 4+2 (4), Andre Compton 3 (4)

Match Points: Sheffield 3 Rye House 0