Redcar roar to rip-roaring success

The Redcar “Agilia” Bears came out 47-43 winners over the previously unbeaten Glasgow Tigers in a pulsating Sunday evening encounter at the Media Prima Arena. The Bears heat 15 heroes were the heat leader pairing of Jake Allen and Charles Wright who roared past former Grand Prix star Craig Cook to take the 3 league points for the Bears. 

In the early stages of the meeting the Bears were cursing their bad luck which began in heat 2 when James Sarjeant made the gate before shedding a chain on the back straight of lap 1 which handed the Tigers a 5-1 which sent them into an early 4 point lead. Heat 3 saw the first contender for race of the night with Jake Allen and Ulrich Ostergaard both fighting for the race win with the lead changing hands numerous times before “The Brisbane Bullet” got the better of the former Bear on the final lap to secure a shared heat for the Bears. Heat 6 saw further bad luck when Jake Allen fell when in a promising position but Charles Wright came good for the home side in the re-run for another shared heat. Heat 8 saw Broc Nicol and Tigers guest Leon Flint combine for a big 5-1 for the Tigers which sent them into an 8 point lead. With the Bears being 8 points down Jade Mudgway used his tactical substitute in the form of Charles Wright and the decision paid dividends as the Bears hit their first 5-1 of the evening. Heat 10 saw the Bears close the gap further with a 4-2 heat advantage despite Glasgow initially gating on a 5-1. The Tigers extended their advantage in Heat 12 as Ulrich Ostergaard got the better of Jake Allen and Sam Jensen got the better of Jordan Jenkins to send the Scottish side into a 4 point lead. Heat 13 saw Craig Cook fly from the gate to take the win but with the Bears packing the minor placings the gap remained at 4. 

Heading into the final 2 heats of the evening the Bears knew they needed to pull a rabbit out of the hat to grab anything from the meeting and the pairing of Anders Rowe and James Sarjeant did just that with a big 5-1 heat advantage. Rowe made a majestic move around the outside of both Tigers on the opening bends to take the win whilst James Sarjeant came second to bring the scores level. A special mention must go to the former Somerset man Rowe who elected to jump onto his 2nd bike and the decision proved to be the correct one. Heat 15 saw a frankly unbelievable speedway race, one of the best final heats the Media Prima Arena has ever seen! The Bears were up against it as the Championship pace setters had choice of gates and chose gates 1+3 but Redcar did not let this affect them as Jake Allen made a pearler of a start and Charles Wright flew around the outside of Craig Cook on the 2nd lap to cap an unbelievable evening of speedway and give the Bears a 47-43 win. 

We caught up with Bears team boss Jade Mudgway who had this to say on the evening’s entertainment, “Full credit to the lads tonight, they got stuck in when things weren’t going our way and that is the mark of a team. What pleased me was that we didn’t roll over and hand it to them, we made a few technical changes and things came good in the end. I’m really proud of the team for digging deep. Even though we had some mechanical issues we didn’t let that affect us and that was really impressive. I would have actually chosen gates 1+3 if I had the choice but when you have a team of racers like we do who are willing to ride the fence for you it’s fantastic!”

Redcar “Agilia” Bears = 47

1. Charles Wright – 2, 3, 3, 3, 1′, 2′ = 14+2

2. Jordan Stewart R/R

3. Jake Allen – 3, 3, FX, 2′, 2, 3 = 13+1

4. Anders Rowe – 1, 0, 1, 3 = 5

5. Michael Palm Toft – 2, 1′, 3, 2 = 8+1

6. James Sarjeant – R, 2, 0, 2′ = 4+1

7. Jordan Jenkins – 1′, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0 = 3+1

Glasgow “Allied Vehicle” Tigers = 43

1. Craig Cook – 3, 2, 2, 3, 1 = 11

2. Broc Nicol – 0, 1′, 3, 1′ = 5+2

3. Ulrich Ostergaard – 2, 3, 2, 3, 0 = 10

4. Justin Sedgmen – 0, FX, 0, 1 = 1

5. Ricky Wells – 3, 2, 1, 0 = 6

6. Sam Jensen – 3, 1′, 0, 1 = 5+1

7. Leon Flint (G) – 2′, 1, 2′, 0 = 5+2