History dictated that the Somerset ‘Sharp’ Rebels were likely to have a hard fought match with the visit of the Sheffield ‘Window Centre’ Tigers. From the Rebels very beginnings in the Conference League Sheffield have been something of a bogey team for the Rebels, with several victories at the Oak Tree Arena to their credit. If fact it took the Rebels several years to register their first home win against the Tigers. Tonight only served to confirm the Tigers as one of the toughest opponents the Rebels have on their home circuit. The two teams produced an enthralling match, in which there was never more than 4-points between the team at any point, and it was Heat 13 before the Rebels finally eked out a small lead.

On the personnel front the Rebels drafted in Nick Simmons as a temporary replacement for the departed Jay Herne, and the Tigers operated Rider Replacement for recent injury victim Josh Auty, who was out with a reported broken rib, with the Rebels Brendan Johnson being included as the Tigers number eight if required.

The opening heat did nothing to dispel the feeling that there was a tough time ahead for the home side, as the Ricky Ashworth and new boy Hugh Skidmore blasting out of the gate to take an early lead. Steve Johnston came powering through to take second from Skidmore on the inside of bend three on the second lap, with Nick Simmons taking another lap before he too moved passed to grab, what earlier had looked like, an unlikely share of the points.

The reserves heat made matters worse for the Rebels as once more the Tigers gated quickly to lead from the line. Despite chasing hard, Tom Brown could not get in a blow, and Justin Sedgmen retired on the second lap as the experienced pair of Paul Cooper and former Rebel Chris Mills took a maximum advantage for the visitors.

The advantage was short lived, with the Rebels repaying the compliment in the restarted Heat 3. Simon Walker led before the turn after a fast start alongside Richard Hall. Emil Kramer joined Walker at the front with a powerful run around the outside of the second turn, finally completing the move off the final bend of the lap. Hall kept the pressure on, and threw in a challenge towards the end of the third lap, but he could never quite find the line to make it stick. Joel Parsons never really got into the race, after having to start of 15-metres for hitting the tapes with an over eager getaway in the original start.

Heat 4 brought Cory Gathercole to the tapes, against Chris Mills and Paul Cooper, who was in as rider replacement. The field broke level, but no one had an answer to Gathercole’s storming outside run on the first turn. Fellow countryman Justin Sedgmen gave the Rebels the advantage as went round Cooper on the third bend, only for Cooper to take back the place a lap later, before the gremlins struck again, and Sedgmen retired for the second time in two races.

Maximum men Emil Kramer and Simon Walker re-appeared in Heat 5, only to find themselves on the wrong end of a 5-1 at the hands of Ricky Ashworth and Hugh Skidmore. Walker broke quickly with Skidmore, but it was the latter who just shaded the lead on the second bend. As the pair raced to the end of the lap, it all got very tight, and they appeared to clash on the final turn, with Walker coming out the loser. He lost all his momentum losing second place to Ashworth, and eventually dropped to the rear of the field. Emil Kramer could never strike a blow, despite giving chase for all four laps.

Three more shared heats followed, with the Rebels taking two heat wins to the Tigers one. Steve Johnston took the first win in Heat 6 as he shot from the line to lead at the opening bend. He pulled away over the next two laps before Richard Hall started to reel him in over the remaining two. Hall narrowed the gap, and was closest at the final bend, but could never really get close enough to make it to the front. Paul Cooper got the better of Nick Simmons to share the points.

Cory Gathercole added a second win to his tally in Heat 7, leading on the back straight following an early battle with Richard Hall, who was out for the second heat in a row. Gathercole must have thought he was wearing Hall’s kevlars, as the Sheffield star stuck to him like glue for the whole race. Hall threw in a final lap challenge on the outside, but Gathercole hung in there right to the line. Joel Parsons took third from Tom Brown.

Hugh Skidmore underlined his potential taking Heat 8 from the Rebels young Aussie Justin Sedgmen. Chris Mills broke quickly with Nick Simmons, with Skidmore and Sedgmen close up. The quartet piled into the first turn together, with Skidmore emerging from the tight packed bunch in front. Sedgmen also took advantage cutting to the inside to pass Mills and Simmons and grabbed second place onto the back straight. Simmons got the better of Mills to take third, before the Essex born rider fell on the last lap, whilst trying in vain to close down and take back third.

The Rebels brought the scores level in Heat 9 with their second maximum of the match. Not only was it the Rebels second 5-1, but also the Kramer/Walker pairing’s second. The pair broke quickly, and it was Simon Walker who headed the field on the second turn, with Kramer on his outside. Once in front the pair pulled away for an easy win, with Skidmore and Cooper floundering in their wake.

The Tigers reinstated their lead in the very next heat. Richard Hall and Joel Parsons broke quickly as Steve Johnston made his worst start of the night. Johno was soon on it, and sailed passed Hall onto the back straight, and just failed to get inside Parsons in the process. Nick Simmons was also soon on Hall’s case, and went by on the opening turn of the next lap. Whilst Johno chased the fast disappearing Parsons, Simmons was manfully holding off the marauding Hall at the same time. However Hall wasn’t to be denied, and as the race drew to a conclusion he reeled in Simmons, and pinched third place back in the dying seconds of the race. The following two heats were shared as the Tigers continued to lead.

Ricky Ashworth lowered Cory Gathercole’s colours for the first time in the match in Heat 11, but it took two attempts.  In the first running Ashworth broke alongside Gathercole, running him wide into the first turn. As Gathercole cut back inside on the second turn, Skidmore appeared on the scene and barrelled into the side of the Rebels man almost bringing him down. The red lights came on immediately, but surprisingly, Dave Dowling did no more than put all four back. The second start was an almost identical copy of the first with Ashworth running Gathercole wide again to take the advantage. Skidmore also took advantage a sneaked through to second, passing both Rebels in the process. Tom Brown cut back under Skidmore at the second turn, and Gathercole set off after his young compatriot, before passing him a lap later, cutting hard under him, and giving him a big nudge out of the way. By this time Ashworth was long gone and the points were shared with Gathercole, now in second, chasing him home.

Heat 12 went to Simon Walker, who powered away from the start to take a lead before the first turn. Once at the front he made no mistake winning with some ease. Justin Sedgmen recovered from a slow start, and was all over the back of Joel Parsons over the final three laps, but was unable to find a path around him, although he explored all the lines the track had to offer.

The Rebels finally got their noses in front with a full house in Heat 13. Steve Johnston broke quickly with Ricky Ashworth in close attendance. Johnston got to the front on the inside of the second turn, as the riders entered the back straight. Cory Gathercole came storming down the back straight, and with a sweeping wide outside run, he charged into second place on the third turn. From there on it looked like being a very easy 5-1 for the Rebels, but Johno gave the home fans a fright as he got badly out of shape on the final turn of the race, just missing the safety fence in the process and almost coming to a standstill before limping over the line in front of a fast closing Ashworth.

Heat 14 almost spelled disaster for the Rebels as Hall and Mills broke quickly, leaving Emil Kramer and Tom Brown on the wrong end of a 5-1, but events were about to unfold that virtually sealed the Tigers fate. Richard Hall reached the second bend leading on the inside, when he suddenly caught a huge lift, and was catapulted towards the outside fence, taking an extremely heavy fall in the process. Behind him Chris Mills was showing Emil Kramer the paintwork on the fence, and he did extremely well to lay the bike down to miss the prostrate Hall. Emil Kramer was also right on top of them, and by some miracle he picked his way through without contact.

Hall was down for some time with pain in his ankle, before being taken from the track in the ambulance, and was excluded from the re-run for his pains. The news after the race was that he had broken a bone in his foot, but rumour has it that he intends to be back in the saddle in the next 48 hours. Whether that is the case is yet to be seen, but Hall won’t want to miss next weekend when he has a date at Marmande in southern France to contest the final round of the World Longtrack Championship with fellow Tiger Paul Cooper.

In the re-run Tom Brown took an early lead after a great start from Chris Mills. Emil Kramer was not far behind, and threw in a challenge at the second turn, getting up the inside, but not being able to make a clean pass on Mills on the back straight, with the Tigers man blocking his next run on the final bend of the lap. Mills stuck to his guns and was all over the back of Brown, whilst at the same time trying to fend off Kramer. Mills eventually eased the pressure as he got passed Brown on the third lap, with a hard cut underneath him on the second bend. Kramer had been trying to pick his way through, but every time he got in a challenging position his run seemed to be blocked, sometimes by his own team mate. So from what should have been a match winning advantage to the Rebels, and with the scores at 43-41 in the Rebels favour, the Tigers were still in with a chance of taking the match, and were guaranteed at the very least a point from the meeting

In the nominated heat the Rebels tracked Cory Gathercole and Steve Johnston, with the Tigers sending out Ricky Ashworth and Paul Cooper in quest for the points. As the tapes rose it was Gathercole who made the early running, bursting from the gate to lead on the opening turn. He clamped Ashworth to the kerb, stopping his initial progress. Johnston came with a wide run to take Ashworth’s second spot on the third turn, but the Salford born racer wasn’t done for by any means. Before the next lap was out Ashworth had forced his way back passed the Rebels skipper to regain his place. Johnston redoubled his efforts and was back in the runner up spot by the next bend. Once there he held off the determined challenges of Ashworth to the line.

With the Somerset’ Sharp’ Rebels not appearing to be right at the top of their game the Tigers gave them a hard fought match that had the crowd on the edges of their seats right up to the final race. The normally powerful top end of the Rebels team, with the exception of Cory Gathercole had a quiet night by their standards. Although Johno scored 11+2, he only managed one heat win, likewise Emil Kramer can normally be relied on for at least three wins, but he was another who’s fortunes only saw him produce the single win. However the Rebels have always shown good spirit in adversity, and Simon Walker looked to be getting back to his best around the Highbridge circuit, and Cory Gathercole pitched in a superb performance, only dropping a single point all night, in the final analysis these two were probably the difference between victory and defeat.

The Tigers are always good value around the Oak Tree Arena track, and as usual Ricky Ashworth and Paul Cooper gave good accounts of themselves. Richard Hall was good value for money, with some entertaining racing, and who knows if he hadn’t have been injured in the fall; the end result may have been different. Another worthy of note is former Rebel Chris Mills, who probably produced his best Somerset performance ever, with his heat 14 win being the highlight. On the subject of former Rebels it was good to see Tigers injury victim Ritchie Hawkins in attendance, and looking in good health. Hopefully it won’t be long before the likeable Hawkins is back in the saddle, and pushing to regain his place in the Tigers line up.

In the end the Rebels retained their unbeaten home record, and extend the record start to the season by another match, but the Tigers came close to ending that run, and fully deserved the point they took back to Owlerton with them.

Report courtesy Dave Thompson