Sheffield Tigers 51 Workington Comets 39

Workington Comets failed to tame the Tigers as they went down 51-39 at Owlerton to leave Sheffield empty-handed.

Comets almost got off to a dream start as Craig Cook and Mason Campton gated on a 5-1, only for Josh Grajczonek and Todd Kurtz to drive up the inside of the captain to share the points.

Tigers debutant Jan Graversen won heat two with ease ahead of the visitors guest Tom Perry, while Rob Shuttleworth was last behind Georgie Wood, another making his first appearance for the hosts.

It was the home side who gated on a 5-1 in heat three and Ty Proctor seemed too eager to impress on his old track, wiping out Ryan Douglas and being excluded as the race was awarded to put Sheffield six points up.

Heat four had to be rerun after Thomas Jorgensen and Lasse Bjerre made a mess of the tapes before the Tigers made it 16-8 with a 4-2 thanks to Bjerre and Wood as Jorgensen let the lead slip.

Comets seemed to wake up in heat five as Cook and Campton combined for a 5-1 to halve the deficit, only for Grajczonek to rocket round in front of Jorgensen and Kurtz to stretch it back to six points.

Proctor had no problems impressing in heat six as he led from gate to flag, but Bjerre and Graversen chased for a draw, then Campton continued his fine form with a superb win in heat seven, closely followed by Perry for yet another away 5-1.

Jorgensen got in on the act by beating former Workington No.1 Grajczonek in heat eight, but Shuttleworth was last so the Tigers held on.

A 5-1 for the home side threatened to drain Comets momentum in heat nine, Grajczonek and Kurtz making light work of Matt Williamson and Proctor.

Bjerre got the better of Cook and Campton to make it 36-30 after 11 heats, before Douglas gave Comets an opening as he crashed out and was excluded in heat 12.

Proctor capitalised the win but Graversen got his nose ahead of Perry for a Comets 4-2 to make things interesting with three heats left.

The usually dependable Cook continued to have something of an off night by his own high standards, trailing Grajczonek while Bjerre beat Jorgensen to put the home side six points up with two heats to go and leave Comets hopes of a point in trouble.

Those chances looked very slim after the Tigers secured a 4-2 in heat 14, with Williamson splitting Douglas and Graversen, and the hosts condemned Comets to a long journey home disappointed with a 5-1 in the final heat.

Comets co-promoter Steve Whitehead, who was team manager for the night, said he was disappointed with the result but not the performance.

He said: "Sheffield Tigers were relieved.

"I'm not taking anything away from them, they're a good side.

"Craig Cook was pretty poorly so that didn't help us and to even score seven points was good.

"He'd probably have scored 13 fully fit and that would have made it something like 46-44.

"Mason Campton was the star and a few people might wonder why I didn't put him in heat 15 but when we got the three lads together Ty and Thomas were keen and Mason thought maybe it was best to go with the heat-leaders."

Sheffield Tigers 51

1. Josh Grajczonek 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2* = 15+1

2. Todd Kurtz 1*, 3, 1, 1, 2* = 8+2

3. Ryan Douglas 2*, 0, 1*, Fx, 3 = 6+2

4. Kyle Howarth R/R

5. Lasse Bjerre 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 3 = 13

6. Jan Graversen 3, 1, 0, 2, 1 = 7

7. Georgie Wood 1, 1, 0 = 2

Workington Comets 39

1. Craig Cook 0, 3, 2, 2 = 7

2. Mason Campton 3, 2*, 3, 1* = 9+2

3. Ty Proctor X, 3, 0, 3, 1 = 7

4. Matt Williamson 1, 0, 1, 2 = 4

5. Thomas Jorgensen 2, 2, 3, 0, 0 = 7

6. Tom Perry 2, 0, 2*, 1, 0 = 5+1

7. Rob Shuttleworth 0, 0, 0 = 0

HEAT BY HEAT

HEAT 1 Campton, Grajczonek, Kurtz, Cook 62.2, 3-3

HEAT 2 Graversen, Perry, Wood, Shuttleworth 62.6, 4-2, 7-5

HEAT 3 Kurtz, Douglas, Williamson, Proctor (Excluded) Nt, 5-1, 12-6

HEAT 4 Bjerre, Jorgensen, Wood, Shuttleworth 62, 4-2, 16-8

HEAT 5 Cook, Campton, Bjerre, Douglas 61.3, 1-5, 17-13

HEAT 6 Grajczonek, Jorgensen, Kurtz, Perry 61.9, 4-2, 21-15

HEAT 7 Proctor, Bjerre, Graversen, Williamson 62.4, 3-3, 24-18

HEAT 8 Campton, Perry, Kurtz, Graversen 63.7, 1-5, 25-23

HEAT 9 Jorgensen, Grajczonek, Douglas, Shuttleworth 63, 3-3, 28-26

HEAT 10 Grajczonek, Kurtz, Williamson, Proctor 62.2, 5-1, 33-27

HEAT 11 Bjerre, Cook, Campton, Wood 62.6, 3-3, 36-30

HEAT 12 Proctor, Graversen, Perry, Douglas (fell excluded) 63.6, 2-4, 38-34

HEAT 13 Grajczonek, Cook, Bjerre, Jorgensen 62.4, 4-2, 42-36

HEAT 14 Douglas, Williamson, Graversen, Perry 63.4, 4-2, 46-38

HEAT 15 Bjerre, Grajczonek, Proctor, Jorgensen 63.4, 5-1, 51-39

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Workington Comets slip to 51-39 loss at in-form Sheffield - News & Star