TIGERS captain Chris Harris admitted it was close “but no cigar” after narrowly missing out on the Championship Pairs title.
The Allied Vehicles Tigers’ No.1 and Anders Rowe topped the qualifying scores with 26 points at Oxford.
But any hopes of defending the crown they won a year ago were dashed by Redcar’s fast start in the semi-final and the Bears went on to take the title with Tigers taking third overall.
Harris said: “It was close but no cigar as they say. We did a really good job to get to the semis.
“We just didn’t make a good start in the semi-final against Redcar.
“The track got a lot slicker after the last track grade. But fair play to Redcar, they got the jump on us and were gone.
“Anders did a great job despite this not being a happy hunting ground track for him.
“I think we can hold our heads up high. I hope we did the Tigers proud for all the brilliant travelling support as usual.
“We’ve got to come back to Oxford next week for an equally important league meeting to keep our play-off hopes alive.”
Tigers began with a 6-3 over Redcar, Rowe taking a fine victory. He then repeated the feat with Harris taking a maximum race win over Berwick.
Next time out Harris hit the front and Rowe third behind Plymouth’s Dan Thompson, but it was another solid heat advantage. The job was completed with a comfortable 7-2 over Workington.
Team boss Cami Brown added: “I can’t really fault the boys. I felt they did a great job all night but just missed the start in the semi-final.
“It was a tough meeting for Anders to come into and he was outstanding.
“He won three races and Chris was the perfect team partner, they worked so well together.
“It’s obviously frustrating to not defend the title but we gave it our best shot.”