Sheffield loose, away at Workington.Sat 18th March

THE Pirtek Tigers battled back from an early deficit to hold Workington to a five-point winning margin in Saturday's Premier Trophy opener at Derwent Park. A succession of early heat advantages saw the visitors go 14 points down after seven heats, but some excellent riding from the heat-leaders saw Tigers come back into contention and make themselves hot favourites for the bonus point. Tigers used rider replacement for Ben Wilson who was suffering the effects of his crash at King's Lynn and Paul Cooper became their first heat winner when he took the flag in Heat 2. However it was Heat 9 before another Sheffield rider won a race with skipper Andre Compton taking a big six-pointer for a tactical ride win. The gap continued to be trimmed as Ricky Ashworth recovered well from a disappointing opening, winning Heat 11 and then partnering Compton to a 5-1 in Heat 13 to leave the scores at 44-39. James Wright and Aidan Collins wrapped up victory for the Comets in the next race, though, before Compton and Ashworth again took maximum points in the last race. WORKINGTON: James Wright 10+1, Ritchie Hawkins 9+1, Garry Stead 9, Tomasz Piszcz 7+1, Aidan Collins 6+1, Paul Thorp 6, Lee Derbyshire 3+1. TIGERS: Andre Compton 16, Emiliano Sanchez 13, Ricky Ashworth 9+2, Paul Cooper 5+1, Kyle Legault 2, Benji Compton 0, Ben Wilson r/r.