Bears tame the Tigers!
Redcar Agilia Bears got their first Championship Shield points on the table, as they won a thrilling contest against Sheffield Tigers 49-39 on Friday night.
On a fine, but chilly night on Teesside, it was the away side who started the meeting off better. The first four heats were all shared 3-3, with a Sheffield man winning all of the heats. This included wins for ex-Bear Ty Proctor and young starlet Drew Kemp. Ben Barker won heat 5 to give the Bears a slender advantage, before Sheffield hit back with a 5-1 of their own through skipper Kyle Howarth and Broc Nicol.
Heat 8 saw the Bears hit the front for the first time with an unusual 5-0 scoreline. Young Aussie Zaine Kennedy was excluded in the first staging of the heat, with Kemp locking up slightly in front Kennedy leaving him with nowhere to really go. In the re-run, there was a cracking race between Tom Bacon and Kemp with both riders passing and re-passing. On the last lap, both riders went wide into the 3rd bend, with Kemp coming off and not finishing the race.
From that point on the Bears kept a good advantage through the night, although there was still some superb racing from both sides. Heat 11 saw Charles Wright and Ty Proctor almost throwing the bikes at each other for all 4 laps, with Wright just about getting the better of Proctor. Heat 14 also saw some controversy and great racing. In the first staging, Nathan Greaves was leading Proctor before Proctor dived up the inside and appeared to make contact with Greaves coming off the fourth bend. To the anger of Greaves, the referee excluded the Redcar man and with Kemp retiring before the fall there was only two riders in the re-run with Proctor facing off against Jordan Stewart. Proctor gated and held a comfortable lead for two laps before Stewart picked up some speed and surged up the inside of his fellow Aussie for a superb heat win.
Bears promoter Jitendra Duffill was thrilled with his sides performance against a very good opponent:
I’m thrilled with tonight’s result. Sheffield are a strong team and tonight was always going to be a big test for us., so I’m happy the result went our way. We had contributions from everybody again and I’ve been very impressed by what I’m seeing from them. No team should hold any fear for us now and we will go to Sheffield with a lot of confidence and believing we can win. Credit to our track staff again as the track was superb and we saw another spectacular meeting which had everything. Thanks to all our fans for their support, and to the Sheffield team and support for making a great night.
Redcar Bears 49
1. Michael Palm Toft – 2, 1, 3, 1 = 7
2. Tom Bacon – 1′, 0, 3, 1 = 5+1
3. Ben Barker – 1′, 3, 3, 3, 2 = 12+1
4. Jordan Stewart – 2, 1, 2′, 3 = 8+1
5. Charles Wright – 2, 2, 3, 3, FX = 10
6. Nathan Greaves – 2, 0, 0, FX = 2
7. Jack Smith – 1′, 1′, 2′, 0 = 4+3
Sheffield Tigers 39
1. Danny King – 3, 2, 1′, 0, 1 = 7+1
2. Zaine Kennedy – 0, 0, X = 0
3. Kasper Andersen – 0, 2, 0, 2 = 4
4. Ty Proctor – 3, 1′, 2, 2, 2 = 10+1
5. Kyle Howarth – 3, 3, 0, 2, 3 = 11
6. Broc Nicol – 0, 2′, 1, 1′ = 4+2
7. Drew Kemp – 3, 0, FX, X = 3