Bears in disappointing defeat

Redcar ‘ECCO Finishing Supplies’ Bears fell to a disappointing 53-37 defeat to Lakeside at the Media Prima Arena on Thursday night.

In what was very much a meeting of two halves, the Bears started off on fire – with two 5-1’s in the opening two heats. That was as good as it got for the Bears though, and despite keeping it close till heat 8 fell apart in the second half of the meeting against a strong Lakeside team. Indeed, Jordan Stewarts heat win in heat 8 was the last win for a Bears rider as the Hammers took control.

The meeting was marred by a nasty crash in heat 5. Jonas B Andersen lifted on bend two, and had nowhere to go but into the side of Ben Morley. The ex-Bear then hit the fence hard and a lengthy delay ensued whilst the paramedics looked over the Essex lad. He went to hospital with suspected wrist damage – everyone at Redcar wishes Ben all the best in his recovery.

For the Bears, Ben Barker top scored with 10+1, supported by sponsors rider of the night Jordan Stewart with 8+1. The impressive Adam Ellis top scored for Lakeside with 13, with Wajtknecht getting 11+2 and Lawson 11+1. 

Bears promoter Kevin Keay was disappointed with his sides performance:

Extremely disappointing and frustrating result. We need to take a serious look at the side and see what we need to do to improve the situation as quickly as possible as we will not put up with performances like we saw tonight, tough decisions may need to be made very soon.

Co-promoter Jitendra Duffill echoed Keay’s thoughts:

I left feeling very dejected tonight. To be 8 points up after 2 heats and lose by 16 is simply unacceptable. Congratulations to Lakeside who were by far the better side and they showed exactly why they are one of the league favourites. However, it has again highlighted some huge areas of concern for us and I will have to make some very tough decisions over the next few days. We simply cannot go on as we are. Apologies again to our supporters, I can assure you that we will do everything we can to try and fix this and are looking at all of our options.

Redcar Bears = 37

1. Ben Barker – 3, 2, 2, 0, 2 = 9
2. Theo Pijper – 2′, 1′, 1, R = 4+2
3. Jonas B. Andersen – 2, X, 0, 1′ = 3+1
4. Tobias Busch – F, 1, 2 = 3
5. Matej Kus – 3, 0, R, 1 = 4
6. Mikkel B. Andersen – 3, 2, 1, 0 = 6
7. Jordan Stewart – 2′, 0, 3, 2, 1, 0 = 8+1

Lakeside Hammers = 53

1. Nick Morris – R, 3, 3, 3 = 9
2. Ben Morley – 1 = 1 WITHDRAWN
3. Adam Ellis – 3, 3, 1, 3, 3 = 13
4. Kyle Newman – 1, 1, 3, 2′ = 7+1
5. Richard Lawson – 2, 3, 3, 2′, 1 = 11+1
6. Zach Wajtknecht – 1, 2′, 2, 1, 2′, 0, 3 = 11+2
7. Alfie Bowtell – 0, 1′, 0, 0 = 1+1