Bears snap up Ostergaard – and name Wright as captain!

The Redcar Agilia Bears have signed Danish ace Ulrich Ostergaard to replace Ben Barker in their line-up. Ostergaard will return for his second spell with the Bears after leading the side in 2012 & 2013 and will make his debut in the clubs first Championship League fixture against the Eastbourne Eagles on the 14th June.

Promoter Jitendra Duffill concluded a deal to bring the popular Dane to Teesside on Monday and received BSPA approval yesterday. Duffill confirmed that enquiries had been made about several riders last Friday without success following Barker’s withdrawal from the British Semi-Final; including exciting young talents Luke Bekker and Jaimon Lidsey. Fortunately, Ostergaard became available shortly after, following his release from Championship club Birmingham.
Duffill explained, ‘For reasons I cannot expand upon, we were left with little choice other than to replace Ben Barker in our line-up. Ben was always going to be very difficult to replace, especially as there are very few riders within the 6.90 points that we had to play with. I made several enquiries about riders without success on Friday afternoon but fortunately, Ulrich became available later that evening. I talked at length with Ulrich and it seems he started the season with a bit of bad luck. He was also having to ride at the difficult number 1 position with Birmingham for most of his time there. Redcar is one of his favourite tracks and I believe that he can do a very good job for us as a third heat leader. He is a hard, experienced rider with a never say die attitude and he looked impressive here 2 weeks ago in the Julie Lewis Memorial; winning two races and beating both Aaron Summers and Michael Palm Toft. He will fit in very well and I’m very pleased to have him back at Redcar, as is my co-promoter and team manager Jade Mudgway. Now we can move on and look forward to the rest of the season’.

Duffill also confirmed that the captaincy will now be handed over to Bears new number 1 Charles Wright. Wright has started the season in scintillating form and is reported to be ecstatic to be named as the Agilia Bears new captain. ‘It was an easy decision for Jade and I to make. Charles is the ultimate professional, is dedicated to his team and thoroughly deserves this title. He is a fantastic role model to his team mates and will make a brilliant captain.’