Bears fail to claw back Monarchs deficit
Redcar produced a battling display full of grit and heart as they took a 49-41 win over the Edinburgh Monarchs but despite victory on the night the Bears suffered a 85-95 aggregate defeat. Erik Riss made a miraculous return from injury with 11 whilst Kasper Andersen top scored for Redcar with 11+1. Sam Masters hit 12+1 for the victorious visitors.
Redcar started the meeting with a heat 1 win as Erik Riss started his return from injury successfully to defeat Sam Masters after the German star passed Lasse Fredriksen in the early stages but with Jordan Jenkins at the back, no advantage could be gained. Nevertheless, the Bears fans did not have to wait long for a heat advantage as Kasper Andersen and Kyle Newman took an extremely comfortable 5-1 to start the Redcar comeback in heat 2.
The comeback continued in heat 3 as Jenkins took an impressive win whilst Kye Thomson and Leon Flint had a magnificent battle which was won by Thomson who took 2nd but with the Bears gaining a 4-2 they cut the Monarch’s aggregate lead to 12 points.
Drama followed in an enthralling heat 4 as Charles Wright gated and the skipper was joined by Andersen until the Dane was passed by Josh Pickering. Pickering then set after Wright and passed the Redcar man with a cute cutback on the 4th bend of lap 3 but Wright was not done and he hit the front of the backstraight of lap 4 before Pickering went extremely wide alongside Wright attempting to win the race and crashed out gifting Andersen second and suddenly the Bears were within 8 of Edinburgh.
After a track grade the Monarchs hit a 5-1 of their own as Masters was joined by Fredriksen who passed the Bears guest Flint on lap 2 to put Edinburgh back into a double figure aggregate lead. After a shared heat 7 won by Wright, Edinburgh struck a killer heat 8 blow. Kyle Newman gated but suffered mechanical issues which gifted Jacob Hook and Fredriksen the win and suddenly Redcar only had a 4 point lead on the night.
After Pickering won a shared heat 9 Redcar kept their hopes alive with a heat 10 4-2 as Andersen took a mightily impressive win with Riss in third. Masters won a shared heat 11 as the lone Monarch after Fredriksen crashed out and was excluded which left Redcar 12 behind with 4 heats remaining.
The home support still believed and heat 12 initially gave them more hope as Flint and Andersen both gated until the Dane was passed by a supremely quick Thomson who then set after Flint but left himself with too much to do which gave the Bears guest his first win of the night.
Redcar were left needing 3 5-1’s in the final 3 races to secure qualification but heat 13 could only provide a 3-3 as Riss impressively won but Wright could not pass Masters or Pickering despite giving it everything which effectively sent Edinburgh through to the semi finals. The Monarch’s progression was confirmed in heat 14 despite Redcar hitting a 5-1 with Newman and Jenkins riding well to hold off Adam Roynon.
Heat 15 saw Edinburgh rub salt into the Bears wounds with a 5-1 of their own as Pickering and Masters both passed Riss on the backstraight of lap 1 to finish the meeting with a bang for the visitors.
Redcar Bears = 49 (85)
1. Erik Riss = 11
2. Jason Edwards R/R
3. Leon Flint (G) = 7
4. Jordan Jenkins = 7+1
5. Charles Wright = 8
6. Kyle Newman = 5+3
7. Kasper Andersen = 11+1
8. Danny Phillips – DNR
Edinburgh Monarchs = 41 (95)
1. Sam Masters = 12+1
2. Lasse Fredriksen = 5+3
3. Kye Thomson = 7+1
4. Adam Roynon (G) = 3
5. Josh Pickering = 9+1
6. James Sarjeant = 1
7. Jacob Hook = 4