Eastbourne electric as Redcar struggle
The Eastbourne Eagles pulled off a shock victory at the Media Prima Arena as the Bears lost their undefeated home record. Eastbourne were simply electric out of the gate in the first half of the meeting as the Redcar riders struggled to adapt to track conditions after the track was hit with 30 minutes of rain before the start of the meeting.
Despite track conditions proving tricky at times the meeting provided some fabulous entertainment as the meeting progressed. The meeting started off in the worst possible way for the Teessiders as the Eagles pairing of Kyle Newman and Richard Lawson hit a maximum 5-1. Heat 2 saw the Bears hit back with a 4-2 as Anders Rowe took the chequered flag. Heat 3 saw a frankly incredible ride from Jake Allen who went from third to first to take the win for the Bears to keep the gap at 2. Heats 4 and 5 saw the Eagles press home their early advantage with back to back 5-1’s as Michael Palm-Toft and Jake Allen suffered mechanical gremlins. Heat 6 saw a shared heat whilst heat 7 saw Michael Palm-Toft bring the Bears within 8 with a 4-2 heat advantage. Heat 8 saw disaster strike for the home side as Drew Kemp and Kyle Newman combined to take the Eagles lead to 12 points. Heat 9 saw Anders Rowe pull off a scintillating move to go past both Eagles to take the win with Jake Allen in third to bring the Bears within 10.
Heat 10 saw Jade Mudgway use his tactical substitute in the form of Michael Palm-Toft and the decision proved to be the right one as the Bears gated and never looked back to make it a 6 point meeting. Heat 11 saw Anders Rowe suffer a fall but the gap remained at 6 as the impressive Palm-Toft won again. Heat 12 was a wonderful win for the Eastbourne Eagles as they took a giant stride towards winning the meeting with a maximum heat advantage. Redcar are not a side to lie down easily and heat 13 saw the Bears two strongest performers, Wright and Palm-Toft combine for a 5-1 to keep the Bears slim hopes alive. Any lingering hope of an unlikely comeback was extinguished in the 14th heat as Jordan Jenkins suffered a fall as the Eagles Tom Brennan took the win. Heat 15 saw another fall for Bears skipper Charles Wright (his second of the evening) but he dusted himself down to finish on a high with a 5-1 heat advantage. The Eagles fully deserved their win as they simply adjusted quicker to track conditions and were faster out of the gate in the first half of the meeting.
Bears team manager Jade Mudgway was understandably disappointed with the result as we caught up with him, “The top and bottom of it was that we just didn’t make starts, we raced hard but we struggled out of the gate. Gating has been a little bit of a problem for us this year but we will keep working on things but when the track is wet you have to make starts. Eastbourne were great this evening, they got stuck in but I was still impressed with some of our riders as they got stuck in and gave it all.”
Redcar = 43
1. Charles Wright – R, 2, 3, 2*, 3 = 10+1
2. James Sarjeant – 1, FX, 1*, 1 = 3+1
3. Jake Allen – 3, R, 1, 0, 2 = 6
4. Rider Replacement for Jordan Stewart
5. Michael Palm Toft – R, 3, 2*, 3, 3, 2* = 13+2
6. Anders Rowe – 3, 1, 1, 3, FX, 1 = 9
7. Jordan Jenkins – 1, 1, 0, FX = 2
Eastbourne = 47
1. Richard Lawson – 2*, 2*, 2, 1, 1 = 8+2
2. Kyle Newman – 3, 3, 2*, 1, X = 9+1
3. Edward Kennett – 2, 2, 1, 3 = 8
4. Tom Brennan – 1*, R, X, 3 = 4+1
5. Lewis Kerr – 3, 3, 2, 0 = 8
6. Jason Edwards – 0, 0, 0 = 0
7. Drew Kemp – 2, 2*, 3, 2*, 1 = 10+2