Battling Bears see off Bandits in thriller!

REDCAR battled to two more Cab Direct Championship points with a 47-43 win over the Berwick Bandits at the ECCO Arena. Charles Wright and Danny King both hit 13 for Redcar whilst the impressive Jonas Jeppesen struck paid 14 on his ECCO Arena debut for Berwick. 

The meeting was a closely fought affair throughout with the sides never separated by more than six points. Despite defeat on the night, Berwick did take away a deserved point for their efforts with a 91-89 aggregate success. 

Wright opened proceedings with a fine heat one win, and with Jody Scott getting the better of his opposite number Sam Hagon for 3rd, the “Agilia” Bears had the lead. 

After a shared heat two won by the returning Jake Mulford, Berwick edged into an 8-10 advantage with their first 5-1 of the match. Drew Kemp won, and with Jeppesen passing the battling Scott for 2nd, the Bandits supporters were delighted with their early lead.

Heat four saw King hit the deck on the first turn, with the Brit somewhat gingerly returning to his feet, but in considerable discomfort with his left hand. However, King returned to the tapes to pick up a second place behind Peter Kildemand in a shared heat on Teesside. 

Jason Edwards opened his account in heat five with a comfortable win, but despite Mulford’s best efforts to claim 3rd ahead of Nick Morris, he was unable to make the pass, meaning Berwick held onto their two point advantage. 

After Kildemand and King won a pair of shared races, Redcar edged ahead with a 5-1 in heat eight. Ace Pijper won impressively from the gate, and with Scott riding superbly to change lines and pass Jack Smith up the inside in the latter stages, Redcar had a two point lead of their own. 

The play-off chasing Bears doubled their advantage in heat nine as King won, and with Edwards 3rd (despite pressuring Kildemand late on for 2nd), the Bears had back to back heat advantages and a four point lead on Teesside. 

However, Berwick responded with a 4-2 of their own in heat 10 as Kemp held off the hard charging Wright, but with Jeppesen close to the front two throughout and taking 3rd, the Bandits kept on fighting. 

Nevertheless, Redcar returned the favour with another 4-2 as the courageous King won again, and with Mulford passing Hagon for 3rd, Redcar had their sights set on all three league points on offer. 

After a shared heat 12 won by Jeppesen, heat 13 saw Redcar level proceedings on aggregate (six up on the night) with their 5th heat advantage as Wright won, and with King battling through into 3rd, the Redcar support were beaming from ear to ear. 

Heat 14 saw Kemp and Smith line-up for the visitors until a late change by the Berwick management saw Jeppesen in as a tactical substitute. The move paid huge dividends for Berwick as Jeppesen passed Edwards and his partner Kemp (who finished 2nd) to win, which gave us a last heat decider with Redcar holding a slender 43-41 lead.

The final race of a superb evening’s entertainment was a thriller. Kemp led out of bend two of the opening lap, but heading out of bend four of lap one, it was four wide crossing the start/finish line with all four not giving an inch. Jeppesen led entering the backstraight on lap two, but Wright usurped him and when Kemp made a mistake, King was through for 3rd. The last two laps saw Jeppesen throw everything at Wright, but it was to no avail as Wright won, and with King 3rd, Redcar secured the win with Berwick gaining the aggregate point. 

Redcar Bears = 47 (89)

1. Charles Wright = 13

2. Jody Scott = 5+2

3. Jason Edwards = 7

4. Erik Riss R/R

5. Danny King = 13

6. Jake Mulford = 4

7. Ace Pijper = 5+2

Berwick Bandits = 43 (91)

1. Nick Morris = 5+1

2. Sam Hagon = 2

3. Jonas Jeppesen = 12+2

4. Drew Kemp = 10+1

5. Peter Kildemand = 10

6. Dayle Wood = 1+1

7. Jack Smith = 3