Redcar v Workington – Thursday 18th May – 7:30pm
After a weeks break, this Thursday sees the Redcar SG Petch Bears return to the Media Prima Arena as they take on the Workington Comets in Championship action (7:30pm start prompt.)
It has been a tough couple of weeks for the Bears, with injuries and other commitments taking their toll resulting in away defeats at Glasgow and Sheffield. Ellis Perks will again miss the meeting following his nasty crash at Poole, sustaining a suspected hairline fracture of his kneecap and strained medial knee ligaments. Peterborough’s Tom Bacon will guest in his place, with the rest of the team back to full strength.
Bears manager Jitendra Duffill admits that losing Ellis is a big blow:
Ellis is probably the worst rider we could have lost to injury as he is riding about 3 points above his 2.38 average. Finding guests is proving to be extremely difficult. I approached every single rider named in a Championship or Premiership declaration that was eligible to guest for Ellis at Glasgow and not one of them were available. I’d like to thank Shelby Rutherford for standing in for Ellis as it was looking like we were unable to field a side at all at one point. We are much weaker without Ellis and to be honest we are a completely different team in his absence. Until he returns we can only try and make the best of a difficult situation.
The match will also provide Richard Hall an opportunity to say his goodbyes to the Redcar fans, and to put himself in the shop window, as he rides his last meeting for the club. Hall will be replaced by Danny Ayres from next Thursday meeting.
Workington come to the Media Prima Arena with a strong looking side, and one with riders that have had excellent meetings here in the past. Team GB International Craig Cook leads the Comets, and both Thomas Jorgensen and Ty Proctor know the quickest way around the MPA. And down at reserve Matt Williamson is having an excellent season. Duffill is certainly wary of the threat posed:
Workington’s top 3 of Craig Cook, Thomas Jorgensen and Ty Proctor all have very good records around the Media Prima Arena and our top 5 will have to work hard again to outscore them. We need a big performance from them again if we want to maintain our 100% record at home in the SGB Championship, something that is vital for us to do if we are to make the play offs later in the season. The oppositions trump card could be Matt Williamson at reserve and I’d like Richard Hall to show us all what he is capable of by outscoring him. We all know that he is more than capable of doing that. I keep reminding all of our riders every week that if they outscore their opposite number then we will come away with a victory.
Tapes up are at 7:30pm, we hope to see as many you as possible!
Redcar: Jason Garrity, Coty Garcia, Charles Wright, Jonas B Andersen, Ban Barker, Richard Hall, Tom Bacon (guest)
Workington: Craig Cook, Mason Campton, Ty Proctor, James Sarjeant, Thomas Jorgensen, Matt Williamson, Rob Shuttleworth.
