Swales: Let’s turn the tables!
Redcar co-promoter, Jamie Swales has challenged his “Agilia” Bears side to turn the tables on Scunthorpe as Redcar look to make their 3rd KO Cup final in 4 years. Redcar host the Scorpions tomorrow night at 7:30 at the ECCO Arena with a place against Poole in the final up for grabs.
Swales is confident of his side’s chances despite the Bears trailing by 18 points heading into the all important 2nd leg, “ There’s no reason why we can’t do to them what they did to us, there’s no doubt about that! “
Redcar again call on the services of Leon Flint as a guest replacement with Swales confident that the young Brit will replicate his form from last Saturday’s win in the Stuart Robson farewell meeting, “ Leon is in good form at the moment and he gets another guest booking after riding well for us at Oxford and Scunthorpe. He has shown he can beat anyone in our league around the ECCO Arena when he won Stuart’s meeting last week so hopefully he can perform well again for us! “
Swales also praised the work of team boss, Gavin Parr, who Swales believes has been instrumental in keeping Redcar’s spirits up after a torrid time with injuries and defeats, “ Individually, the riders are riding well but injuries and circumstances have put us in this position. Gavin (Parr) has done really well at keeping everyone’s spirits up during our recent run.”
The former Workington rider also revealed a startling statistic in regards to Redcar’s injury problems in 2023, “ Recently, I worked out that we have only tracked our starting 1-7 in four meetings all season which shows how injuries have really hampered us this year.”
Despite the Redcar co-promoter being confident of his side’s chances, he admitted disappointment that Redcar found themselves 18 down despite a strong start at Scunthorpe, “ I thought we did a good job in the early stages at Scunthorpe. The track had a slight dirt line on which our boys liked. However, at the halfway stage, the track dried out which brought the advantage back to Scunthorpe which they capitalised on. Losing by 18 points did disappoint me as I thought we were going to keep it under 10 points but it’s still all to play for! “
Redcar bring in the aforementioned Leon Flint to guest for the stricken skipper Charles Wright with Flint scoring an impressive 19 points across his previous 2 guest bookings for the Bears. Additionally, Redcar also track their regular guest Luke Harrison in place of the injured Jake Mulford. Meanwhile, the Scorpions have once again named an unchanged 1-7 with Michael Palm-Toft and Jake Allen set to return to their former home track once again.
Fans who cannot attend the ECCO Arena are reminded that the meeting will be live streamed by our streaming partners, TapesUp productions at redcar-speedway.tv. Season ticket holders are also reminded that the meeting is not part of your season ticket package although a 10% discount is applicable upon entry to the stadium.
Redcar “Agilia” Bears
1. Danny King © 8.54
2. Danyon Hume 4.88
3. Connor Bailey 5.60
4. Leon Flint (G) 8.00
5. Erik Riss 7.62
6. Jason Edwards 4.25
7. Luke Harrison (G) 3.14
™: Gavin Parr
Scunthorpe Scorpions
1. Ryan Douglas 9.38
2. Connor Mountain 5.38
3. Simon Lambert © 6.15
4. Jake Allen 6.91
5. Michael Palm Toft 6.71
6. Nathan Ablitt 2.49
7. Drew Kemp 5.11
™: Dave Peet