Bears come back from the brink to secure famous win!
Redcar kept their play-off hopes alive with a frankly astonishing 46-44 win over Scunthorpe. With 3 races to go the Bears needed an unlikely trio of 5-1’s to keep their play-off dream alive and somehow the Bears pulled off the near impossible! Lewis Kerr top scored with a majestic paid 20 (19+1) whilst Adam Roynon was a thorn in the side of the Bears with 11+1.
Scunthorpe’s guest, Richard Lawson took the chequered flag in heat 1 despite Charles Wright being all over his back wheel. In the battle at the back, Simon Lambert got the better of Jason Edwards and the Scorpions took an early lead.
The former Bears duo of Anders Rowe and Adam Roynon replicated their heat 2 performance from the Jubilee League encounter as they struck Scunthorpe’s first 5-1 to take the visitors into an early 6 point lead.
Redcar immediately hit back with a maximum heat advantage of their own in heat 3 as Lewis Kerr gated for a comfortable win whilst Kasper Andersen passed James Wright on the 4th bend of lap 1 to drag Redcar within 2.
However, in the early stages, this was as good as it got for the Bears. After a shared heat 3 won by the rampaging Lewis Kerr, Scunthorpe hit their second 4-2 of the meeting as Lawson once again defeated Wright and Lambert held off Andersen to send Scunthorpe 4 ahead.
The Bears were left cursing their bad luck after a disastrous heat 6 as Wright snapped a chain on the start line with Scunthorpe taking full advantage with another 5-1 courtesy of Jake Allen and Adam Roynon.
Redcar needed heat advantages but they were hard to come by as heats 7&8 were both shared. If the Redcar fans were looking for some hope, both heats were won by a Bear as Kerr carried on his merry way with another win whilst Jenkins came to the party with a heat 8 victory.
Jade Mudgway played his far too common home tactical substitute as Kerr came in to partner Andersen. With 2 unbeaten riders, Kerr and Roynon in the race something had to give and to the delight of the travelling visitors, Roynon defeated Kerr to keep his maximum hopes alive and at this stage, an away win was looking rather likely.
Heat 10 saw Allen take the early lead with Wright chasing hard. Entering lap 4, Wright looked to move to the outside to make the pass but came to grief and hit the deck to gift Scunthorpe a 4-2 to stretch their lead to 10 and Redcar’s play-off dreams were hanging by a thread.
Redcar’s Kerr returned to winning ways in heat 11 by defeating Lawson whilst Kyle Newman, pointless up until heat 11 made a key pass on Lambert on lap 3 to reduce the arrears to 8. Roynon made it 4 from 4 in heat 12 as he won easily but with James Wright passing Andersen on lap 3, Scunthorpe were almost over the winning line.
With 3 heats to go at the ECCO Arena, you could hear a pin drop in the crowd as Redcar required a rather unlikely 3 5-1’s in the final 3 heats to keep their play-off hopes alive.
Heat 13 saw a remarkable race as Wright forced his way up the inside of Lawson on the 4th bend of lap 2 but with Kerr stuck in third, Redcar were in trouble. Despite things looking far from rosy, Kerr (well ahead of the rider replacement Roynon) built up speed on the outside on the final bend to take 2nd on the line and keep Redcar’s extremely slim hopes alive.
Jenkins, nursing an injury, took to the fence on the opening bends of heat 14 to win and Newman rode a fantastic line to keep Allen at bay and suddenly, the impossible was possible!
Vitally, Redcar had the choice of gates in heat 15 with Kerr going off 2 and Wright taking gate 4. The original staging saw Kerr get a flyer and the referee gave the Bears star a warning. The re-run saw both Bears gate and despite Lawson chasing early, the Poole man retired and the Bears took a win with tapes up declaring the win as “the most unlikely victory in the club’s history!”
A remarkable night at a remarkable club and Redcar must now await the result of tonight’s Championship encounter between Berwick and Scunthorpe. If Berwick can win by more than 6 points, Redcar will need a point from their trip to Plymouth on Tuesday to guarantee the 6th and final play-off place.
We caught up with the inspirational Lewis Kerr after Redcar’s remarkable win, “ It was the perfect night, the pressure was on towards the end but I made some dream starts, I had plenty of speed and we got the job done.”
Kerr, confessed he had no idea that if his last bend pass on Lawson was unsuccessful, Redcar could not win the meeting, “ I knew we were behind but I did not know we couldn’t of won the meeting. In terms of heat 13, I knew it was a do or die effort to get past Lawson but I knew I had speed wide and I got the job done!”
Redcar Bears = 46
1. Charles Wright = 9+1
2. Jason Edwards = 3
3. Erik Riss R/R
4. Kasper Andersen = 3+1
5. Lewis Kerr = 19+1
6. Kyle Newman = 3+1
7. Jordan Jenkins = 9
8. Luke Muff – DNR
Scunthorpe Scorpions = 44
1. Richard Lawson (G)= 9
2. Simon Lambert = 5+1
3. James Wright = 4
4. Jake Allen= 8+2
5. Tero Aarnio R/R
6. Adam Roynon = 11+1
7. Anders Rowe = 7+1