Sheffield Tigers 56 Workington Comets 36

Workington Comets suffered an unhappy visit to Sheffield as the league leaders inflicted a 20-point defeat on the patched up West Cumbrians.

With captain Craig Cook withdrawing from the meeting due to illness, former Comet Richard Lawson came in as a guest and made a solid start, splitting Todd Kurtz and Josh Grajczonek in the opening heat to limit the hosts to a 4-2.

The Tigers added another 4-2 in heat two as Jan Graversen saw off James Sarjeant and Georgie Wood pipped another Workington guest, Alfie Bowtell.

They kicked things up a notch with a 5-1 in the third race as Josh Bates and Kurtz were never really troubled by Ty Proctor.

Workington asset Kyle Howarth won heat four at a canter but he was followed by Thomas Jorgensen, while Bowtell again finished behind Wood.

Howarth was out again in heat five but this time he was beaten by Lawson, who was first to the flag with Bates second as Campton fell off and was excluded for an awarded 3-3 to keep the gap at 10 points.

Comets gated on a 5-1 in heat six but another ex-Comet, Josh Grajczonek, gunned around the outside to pinch the lead.

It was short-lived for the Tigers’ No1, who came off and was excluded from the rerun.

The visitors repeated the trick at the second time of asking but Kurtz just managed to muscle his way between Jorgensen and Sarjeant for an away 4-2.

Howarth got back to winning ways in heat eight with Proctor on his heels, but Williamson continued to struggle at the back as Sheffield replenished their 10-point lead.

Campton and Sarjeant were well beaten for a home 5-1 in heat nine, before Comets used the tactical ride facility for the third meeting in a row.

Jorgensen was leading the first run when it was pulled back as Graversen fell, pulled back after a flying start in the rerun and eventually beaten by Bates in the second rerun to give Comets a 5-3 which in truth wasn’t enough to give them much hope as Sheffield bagged a 4-2 in the next heat.

Grajczonek then withdrew from the meeting but with the Tigers all but assured of victory, it would have given Comets little cause for optimism as Howarth was kept honest by Lawson and Campton in a shared heat 11 to leave the visitors needing maximum points from every remaining race to win the meeting.

Defeat was confirmed in heat 12 as Bates held on ahead of Proctor and Sarjeant, but Comets still had an outside chance of a league point until a heat 13 5-1 thanks to Howarth and Graversen condemned Workington to a disappointing journey home.

Bates and Wood produced a 5-1 in heat 14 as Williamson languished in third and Sarjeant’s bike packed up, before Comets had one last hurrah with a 4-2 through Lawson and Jorgensen in the final heat.

Sheffield Tigers 56

1. Josh Grajczonek – 1, FX, 2*, 3 = 6+1

2. Todd Kurtz – 3, 2*, 2, 3, 1 = 11+1

3. Lasse Bjerre R/R

4. Josh Bates – 3, 2, 3, 3, 3, 2 = 16

5. Kyle Howarth – 3, 1, 3, 3, 3, 0 = 13

6. Jan Graversen – 3, 1, FX, 0, 2* = 6+1

7. Georgie Wood – 1, 1, 0, 2* = 4+1

Workington Comets 36

1. Richard Lawson – 2, 3, 2, 1, 3 = 11

2. Mason Campton – 0, FX, 1, 1* = 2+1

3. Ty Proctor – 1, 2, 0, 2 = 5

4. Matt Williamson – 0, 0, 2, 1 = 3

5. Thomas Jorgensen – 2, 3, 4^, 0, 1 = 10

6. James Sarjeant – 2, 1, 0, 1*, EF = 4+1

7. Alfie Bowtell – 0, 0, 1* = 1+1

HEAT BY HEAT

HEAT 1 – Kurtz, Lawson, Grajczonek, Campton – 61.6, 4-2

HEAT 2 – Graversen, Sarjeant, Wood, Bowtell – 62.9, 4-2, 8-4

HEAT 3 – Bates, Kurtz, Proctor, Williamson – 61.6, 5-1, 13-5

HEAT 4 – Howarth, Jorgensen, Wood, Bowtell – 62.3, 4-2, 17-7

HEAT 5 – Lawson, Bates, Howarth, Campton (fell excluded) – Aw., 3-3, 20-10

HEAT 6 (RERUN) – Jorgensen, Kurtz, Sarjeant, Grajczonek (fell excluded) – 62.3, 2-4, 22-144

HEAT 7 – Howarth, Proctor, Graversen, Williamson – 62.3, 4-2, 26-16

HEAT 8 – Kurtz, Graversen, Campton, Sarjeant – 62.4, 5-1, 31-17

HEAT 9 (RERUN x2) – Bates, Jorgensen (tactical ride), Bowtell, Graversen (fell excluded) – 63, 3-5, 34-22

HEAT 10 – Grajczonek, Williamson, Kurtz, Proctor – 62, 4-2, 38-24

HEAT 11 – Howarth, Lawson, Campton, Graversen – 62.3, 3-3, 41-27

HEAT 12 – Bates, Proctor, Sarjeant, Wood – 62.8, 3-3, 44-30

HEAT 13 – Howarth, Graversen, Lawson, Jorgensen – 63.1, 5-1, 49-31

HEAT 14 – Bates, Wood, Williamson, Sarjeant (engine failure) – 64.6, 5-1, 54-32

HEAT 15 – Lawson, Bates, Jorgensen, Howarth – 63.1, 2-4, 56-36