Play Off Semi Final Team News
The Redcar Agilia Bears can now release their line up for this week’s Play Off Semi-Final against Leicester and are able to reveal dates for the KO Cup Final and Teesside Silver Helmet.
The Agilia Bears have secured the services of American talent Broc Nicol for both the home and away legs to replace Nathan Greaves who is still recovering from leg and pelvic injuries sustained recently at Newcastle. Scunthorpe’s Jake Allen will guest for the Bears at Redcar and Edinburgh’s Josh Pickering will feature at Leicester; both replace Michael Palm Toft who has a fractured bone in his back and will miss the remainder of the 2019 season. Tom Woolley is recovering well from his collar bone injury and is expected to return to the side on Friday.
Promoter Jitendra Duffill added, “I’d like to thank the riders who have agreed to guest for us this week and also to the promotions who hold their contracts for allowing us to speak to them. We had originally booked Jake Allen to cover for Michael both home and away as we wanted the same rider to represent us over both legs of the Semi-Final. However, Jake is now unavailable on Saturday as his Premiership club are racing on the same evening as of yesterday, but we have been fortunate that Josh Pickering is available and willing to help. Using guests is never your preferred situation, but it has allowed us to field a team over both legs that is as strong as it would have been before injuries became a problem.”
Duffill also revealed that Nathan Greaves is recovering faster than expected from his injuries and is hoping to race again soon. He told us, ”I’ve been in touch with Nathan regularly and I’m really happy to say that his injuries are not as serious as we initially thought they were. Nathan knows that he must be nothing short of 100% to resume racing, so he will come to Redcar for a practice first, to prove to both us and himself that he is fully fit before returning to the side”
It has also been confirmed that dates have now been set for the KO Cup Final against Newcastle and for the Teesside Silver Helmet. Redcar will stage the 1st leg of the cup final at home on Friday 11th October, with the 2nd leg taking place in Newcastle on Sunday 13th October. The Silver Helmet will take place on Friday 25th October and will round off the Bears season.
Duffill explained, “The Play Off’s must to be completed before the KO Cup final, so we race this week against Leicester and then Friday 4th October is reserved for the Play Off final, should we make it. Ideally, I would have liked the 2nd leg of the KO Cup to have been at home, but that wasn’t fair on Newcastle, who are already having to wait 2 weeks for us to finish our Play Off fixtures and originally wanted to race this week. A compromise had to be made somewhere.”
The Agilia Bears will host their end of season party and presentation evening the night after the Silver Helmet, on Saturday 26th October. This will take place at The Hub, situated within Teesside University on Southfield Road, Middlesbrough. Tickets are £15 for adults and £7 for under 16’s, include a hot meal and can be purchased 3 ways; from the club’s race office at the MPA, by making contact via Facebook or through Claire James (07706 143971) or Janice Jackson (07727 029231).
Redcar Agilia Bears Team
Friday@ Redcar
Charles Wright, Erik Riss, Jake Allen, Jordan Stewart, Kasper Andersen, Broc Nicol, Tom Woolley.
Saturday @ Leicester
Charles Wright, Erik Riss, Josh Pickering, Jordan Stewart, Kasper Andersen, Broc Nicol, Tom Woolley.
Remaining Fixtures
Friday 27th September – Redcar V Leicester PO Semi-Final 1st Leg @ 7.30pm
Saturday 28th September – Leicester V Redcar PO Semi-Final 2nd Leg @ 7.30pm
Friday 4th October – Reserved PO Final @ 7.30pm
Friday 11th October – Redcar V Newcastle KO Cup Final 1st Leg @ 7.30pm
Sunday 13th October – Newcastle V Redcar KO Cup Final 2nd Leg @ 6.30pm
Friday 18th October – Reserved @ 7.30pm
Friday 25th October – Teesside Silver Helmet @ 7.30pm
Also:
Saturday 26th October – End of Season Party and Presentation Evening @ 7pm The Hub, Teesside University, Southfield Road, Middlesbrough