Category: Bears News

After being unveiled as a 2020 Agilia Bear on Saturday night, Danish star Michael Palm Toft admitted that it was an easy decision to come back to Redcar:

It was not just an easy decision to come back, I asked to come back myself as I enjoyed riding for the club and the track is so fun to ride!

Palm Toft, who comes in as a third heatleader on a 8.18 average, was a crucial part of the 2019 side which was so close to making the play off final and famously won the KO Cup. His season was cruelly ended with injury, but Palm Toft confirms everything is now absolutely fine and he is raring to go:

The recovery is over, everything is as it should be so no more injury talk! It’s just getting back on the bike and doing my job for the club!

Whilst he has not yet set himself any personal goals for the season, he was very clear on the goal for the team this season:

The goal is Silverware that’s for sure!

Redcar Agilia Bears are pleased to announce you can now purchase our official merchandise online here.

For sale at the moment are Redcar Agilia Bears 2020 calendars, plus two Redcar Bears mugs. More items will be available in the future. If you order for delivery by this Friday, we will post your order so that it will reach you before Christmas, so ideal for those last minute Christmas gifts! If you would prefer to collect your order, they can be available for collection from the track this Sunday between 10 and 1.

As we are now bringing our merchandise in-house, all future merchandise will now be available both online and at the track.

Redcar Agilia Bears are delighted to announce the remaining 5 members of our 2020 team, joining Erik Riss and Jordan Stewart who were announced last month.

Charles Wright, Michael Palm Toft and Kasper Andersen all return from last seasons team, with two new reserves joining the team in promising duo Joe Lawlor and Jordan Jenkins.

Charles returns to Redcar after a superb season in 2019. As Bears skipper, he led the side to the playoffs and won the KO Cup with a famous victory against Newcastle. On a personal level, he also won the British title and did himself proud in Cardiff at the British GP scoring 5 points. He finished the season with a 9.59 average, and will be the Bears number 1.

Michael Palm Toft is another to return, after his season was unfortunately ended early due to an injury. He is another who had a good season in 2019, and finished on a 8.18 average which puts him third in the averages behind Charles and Erik.

Kasper Andersen also returns, after becoming a huge fan favourite at the Media Prima Arena last season with his battling performances and great celebrations. After being released by Sheffield, the Dane came in part way through the season to replace the injured Tom Bacon and achieved a 4.86 average.

The first of the new faces in 2020 is promising Brit Joe Lawlor. Joe had a spell at reserve for Leicester last season, helping the Lions to win the Championship Title and the Championship Shield. He also rode for Stoke at National League level, achieving a good 7.91 average. He will join the Bears on a 2.00 average.

He will be joined at reserve by another Brit with huge potential in Jordan Jenkins. 18 year old Jordan has been prolific in the National League over the last few seasons, first with Mildenhall and then last season with Kent. He achieved a 6.55 average for Kent last season. He also had a brief spell at Birmingham in the Championship, and will join the Bears also on a 2 point average.

Stay tuned to our website over the next few days, as we will bring you the thoughts of the 2020 Bears!

We are very excited to announce that Agilia Infrastructure Partners Ltd will continue as the main sponsors of Redcar Agilia Bears Speedway. 2020 will be Agilia’s second year as title sponsors, with a deal being agreed quickly just after this year’s AGM in November.

Promoter Jitendra Duffill expressed his gratitude to business partners Mike Pugsley and Amar Qureshi; “I am very happy to have Agilia back on board for my second season in charge of the Bears. The support that we have had from Mike and Amar has been incredible and I feel extremely lucky to have their backing. Agilia is a company that is growing rapidly and this is a partnership that we hope will continue for a very long time. I really can’t thank them enough for their support.”

Speaking to the Speedway Star this week, Agilia director Mike Pugsley added, “The guys at Redcar are all totally professional and a pleasure to work alongside from a sponsors point of view, so we couldn’t be more delighted. It went brilliantly on the track and it’s great to see how well the club has done and how good that is for the area.” “We loved being involved and hopefully can carry on for a long time yet.”

Agilia Infrastructure Partners Ltd are a London based company, involved with infrastructure finance and were involved in the logistics behind the £4.1 billion Thames Tideway Project. The company is only three and a half years old but has experienced rapid growth and now employs 17 people.

The Hub is based within the Teesside University Students Union, on Southfield Road in Middlesbrough. Most of Southfield Road is now pedestrianised, but there is ample parking in the Students Union car park, which can be accessed from Victoria Road (postcode TS1 3AP – number 8 on the map). Parking is free on a weekend.

The Students Union is directly in front of this car park, with the Hub being situated on the 2nd floor and is easily accessible by stairs or lift. 

We will also be selling the first of our official 2020 merchandise for the first time during the event (2020 calendars and mugs), so they can be bought in time for Xmas. There are still a few tickets for the event left, but Friday is the very last day that they will be available!

Many congratulations to our young Aussie star Jordan Stewart, who has signed his first Premiership contract to ride for league Champions Swindon Robins next season.

Jordan will lineup alongside fellow Aussies Jason Doyle and Troy Batchelor, as well as ex-Bear Ellis Perks, Rasmus Jensen and Anders Rowe.

Jordan is also one of two Bears announced for 2020, alongside Erik Riss. The rest of the side will be announced on 14th December at our Christmas Party.

Congratulations Jordy, and good luck with Swindon next season!

With the good news being announced this week that Newcastle will remain in the Championship League next year, we can now confirm the league structure for 2020.There will be 12 teams in the Championship, with each team racing 32 league fixtures. Every team will race each other once home and away, with the 6 ‘northern’ clubs racing each other again, as will the 6 ‘southern’ clubs.

This will give each Championship club 16 league fixtures at home, with the points scored at each meeting being added to the ONE league table, where the TOP 6 will qualify for the play offs. If Newcastle had not come to the tapes in 2020, the 11 team league would have been split into 2, with the top 3 from each group progressing to the play offs.We can also confirm that there will now be no Championship Shield, which would have taken place if there were only 11 teams in the Championship. This leaves each Championship team with 16 guaranteed home fixtures and at least 1 KO Cup fixture.

The Agilia Bears can also confirm that they will run the Teesside Silver Helmet and Julie Lewis Memorial meetings, as well as taking on a Premiership side in their first ever inter-league challenge on Friday 27th March. Redcar also hope to stage a popular, ex-Bear’s farewell meeting in 2020 and have applied to host a BSPA Shared Event.

This should give fans a packed calendar in 2020 and we are pleased to announce that season tickets will go on sale at 6pm today, now that the league structure has been confirmed. Keep an eye on our website and social media for the announcement later today.

Redcar Agilia Bears will start their defence of the KO Cup with a 2 legged tie against Birmingham in 2020.

The Bears beat Somerset, Glasgow, Eastbourne and Newcastle on their way to their famous victory this year. If the Bears progress against Birmingham, they will face the winners of the Poole v Edinburgh clash.

The full draw is as follows:

Poole v Edinburgh
Leicester v Berwick
Birmingham v Redcar
Somerset v Glasgow

Byes:
Eastbourne
Kent
Newcastle
Scunthorpe

Quarter Final draw:

Scunthorpe v Kent
Birmingham/Redcar v Poole/Edinburgh
Somerset/Glasgow v Leicester/Berwick
Eastbourne v Newcastle

German star Erik Riss admits it was not a tough choice to come back to Redcar after his very successful spell last season. Riss won the Championship Riders title at Sheffield last season, and was an integral part of the Bears success, finishing the season with a 8.41 average.

Riss admitted that once he knew he was riding in the Championship again, it was an easy choice for him to make. And despite winning the KO Cup this year, he is hoping to go one better in the league next season:

“I’m happy to say I’m going to be back at Redcar next year. I really enjoyed this year, and I really enjoyed riding at Redcar since the moment I joined. The promotion has been awesome and the fans have been awesome too.
It wasn’t really a hard choice once I decided to do the Championship next season. There wasn’t any other club where I would have liked to ride.

Last year was really good, it was just a shame that we could not go one further in the league but next year is a new year and hopefully we can take it one step further!”

Aussie star Jordan Stewart, whose signing was greeted with great applause when announced on Saturday night, has admitted he is delighted to be back at Redcar for his third season. In a video message played for the fans in attendance, he also told of his plans for the winter in Australia:

“I’m really looking forward to being back next year, it’s been a really good year this year! We won some trophies which was good and really enjoyed my time there. I learnt a lot, and I already can’t wait to see what next year brings and can’t wait to get the show on the road.

I’d like to thank Ben and Jade for having me back, it’s like a family at Redcar to me as well as every other rider.

I have busy few weeks in Australia, every weekend in November I have big meetings, and then it’s the Aussie Championships in January.“