Sarjeant the man for Bears
James Sarjeant becomes the latest name on the Redcar Bears team sheet for 2021. After a turbulent start to the year for the Teessiders, which saw the club part ways with Kasper Andersen last week, the promotion have been on the lookout for 2 new faces before tapes up next month. Last week, the club’s bosses stated that they were searching for 2 riders who would be based in the UK full time due to concerns over travel in and out of the country.
27 year old Sarjeant was originally lined up to race for the Edinburgh Monarchs in 2021, but found himself the unfortunate victim of British Speedway’s new Rising Star Programme, which resulted in the Scottish outfit being forced into a team change. The British youngster had looked likely to miss out on the start of the new season, due to start on May 17th, through no fault of his own until the call came from Bears’ promoter Jitendra Duffill last week.
Duffill explained, “We were looking for a direct replacement for Kasper Andersen after we parted ways last Monday and James seemed a pretty obvious choice. He was unlucky to lose his team place at Edinburgh and it would have been a huge shame for him to miss out, as he is a valuable rider to British Speedway; more so now than ever given the challenges we are facing as a sport with Covid and Brexit.”
He continued, “James come in on a 3.90 average and I know he is a much better rider than that. He has the potential to add significantly to his starting figure and he should thrive at reserve, especially after spending the back end of last season at number 2 for Edinburgh. He gives us a very strong reserve and one with experience. I can remember him guesting for us at Newcastle a few years ago very clearly, where he put in a very impressive performance for us; you can score points anywhere if you can ride that track well as it’s a tough one to master. Coming to Redcar is a great move for James; we are excited to have him here and he will make a great addition to our side.”
The Bears are now left with 1 spot to fill and the club have confirmed that talks have been ongoing with more than one rider over the last few weeks. The addition of Sarjeant means that the club now 7.56 points left for their final rider, nearly 1 point more than they had previously, and could leave them with more options. Duffill finished by replying, “It is correct that we have more points to play with, but it still means finding someone who is willing to commit to racing in the UK and for us, that would have to be based in the UK full time too. Having said that, I’m still confident we will come to the tapes with a good side at the end of May.”
