Tigers edge Bears
Glasgow edged out Redcar 39-33 at the ECCO Arena in a rain-curtailed Cab Direct Championship clash. Danny King top scored for the Bears with 10 whilst Tom Brennan hit 10+2 for the Tigers.
Danny King opened proceedings with a heat 1 win, but with his partner, Danyon Hume unable to find a way past Chris Harris, Redcar could not start with a heat advantage.
Heat 2 saw another Redcar heat winner in the shape of Jason Edwards but the Bears reserve was made to work hard for the win! Edwards gated but was passed by Lee Complin on lap 2 but the Redcar man is made of stern stuff and he re-passed Complin entering lap 3 for the win, but with Redcar guest Luke Killeen at the rear, the scores remained level.
Glasgow struck the first telling blow in heat 3 with a 5-1 courtesy of Vadim Tarasenko and Tom Brennan with the Bears pairing of Connor Bailey and Erik Riss both missing the gate.
After Glasgow’s guest, Richard Lawson won a shared heat 4, Redcar hit back with a 4-2, but that does not tell the story of an eventful heat 5! Harris gated and looked set for a comfortable win until ‘Bomber’ suffered mechanical issues and retired which looked set to hand Redcar a 5-1 until Brennan battled past Bailey to limit Redcar to a 4-2 as Riss took the chequered flag for the first time.
A brace of shared heats won by Lawson and Cook respectively saw the Bears remain 2 behind. However, Redcar drew level as Hume impressively won heat 8 ahead of Brennan and with Edwards in 3rd, the meeting was back on an even keel. Glasgow immediately retook the lead with a 4-2 in heat 9 as Lawson made it 3 wins from 3 for the win whilst Glasgow’s guest reserve, Jack Smith rode superbly to hold off Riss to send the Tigers 2 ahead.
After heat 10 was a shared race won by Tarasenko, the Tigers struck a telling blow in heat 11 as Harris and Brennan combined for a 5-1 despite Cook battling Brennan for 2nd which sent the Tigers into a 30-36 lead on Teesside. With the Bears 6 behind, Parr elected to use his tactical substitute in the shape of Danny King. Despite King winning impressively ahead of Tarasenko, Bailey was unable to find a way past Smith which kept Glasgow 6 ahead at the ECCO Arena.
Heat 13 saw Redcar gate on a comfortable 5-1 until Harris fell whilst at the back. With the race set to be re-run, the heavens opened which brought a premature end to the meeting with Glasgow taking the 3 Cab Direct Championship points.
Redcar Bears = 33 (72)
1. Danny King = 10
2. Danyon Hume = 5+2
3. Connor Bailey = 4
4. Erik Riss = 3
5. Ben Cook (G) = 6
6. Jason Edwards = 4
7. Luke Killeen (G) = 1+1
Glasgow Tigers = 39 (90)
1. Chris Harris = 4+1
2. Tom Brennan = 10+2
3. Vadim Tarasenko = 10
4. Claus Vissing R/R
5. Richard Lawson (G) = 9
6. Lee Complin = 3+1
7. Jack Smith (G) = 3+2
