Sheffield took full advantage of world No.2 Brady Kurtz’s absence to put themselves in pole position for Premiership Knockout Cup Final qualification at Owlerton on Thursday.
With the Aussie absent due to illness, Tigers triumphed 56-34 in the battle of two teams tipped as favourites for Rowe Motor Oil Premiership silverware as Sheffield claimed the bonus point 98-82.
Former world champion Chris Holder starred for the Tigers on 13 points, with skipper Josh Pickering adding 12 paid 13 and Speedway GP star Jack Holder collecting nine paid 10. But rock-solid returns from Jye Etheridge on nine paid 11 and Anders Rowe on eight paid 11 truly did the damage.
The Aces relied on a 16-point salvo from GB hero Dan Bewley to stay in contention, but Pickering was delighted to see his side edge ahead in the Premiership Knockout Cup Northern Section, with both clubs still to face off with Leicester over two legs in the race for final qualification.
Pickering said: “We set out with a bit of a task in hand. We ran them very close at Belle Vue (48-42), and I was glad to have a convincing win here in the end.
“We all settled in quite well; I know Leon’s not overly impressed with his results here (three paid four), but the rest of the boys chipped in, got the points when we needed to with heat advantages, and it was very important for us to stretch that lead and maintain it.”
Aces boss Mark Lemon admits sluggish starts cost the Manchester club. He said: “Sheffield’s gating and first turn skills were very impressive, and excluding Dan Bewley, we were outperformed. We just weren’t sharp enough.
“There were some boys in the team who hadn’t been here before, which is tough, and they all tried their hardest. If you just get it wrong by an increment you’re eating dust, and unfortunately some of our boys got it wrong. That’s racing at the end of the day.
“We live to fight another day. We’ve obviously now got to focus our attention on Bank Holiday Monday against Leicester, and we need two wins.”