Category: Bears News

Tonight’s Play Off Semi-Final against Leicester has been postponed due to a waterlogged track and a poor weather forecast.
Heavy rain over the last week has left the Media Prima Arena sodden and with more rain forecast for this afternoon, the decision has been taken to make an early call.
Promoter Jitendra Duffill added, “We needed a full day of dry weather to get our track into good shape and it’s looking very unlikely that will happen. I don’t want to run the most important meeting of the season in poor conditions and I don’t want to inconvenience travelling riders and supporters by cancelling last minute.”
The meeting has been rearranged to take place next Friday 4th October, with the usual start time of 7.30PM.

The Agilia Bears are very pleased to announce that both Nathan Greaves and Tom Woolley are back to full fitness and will take their places in Redcar’s side for both legs of this weeks Play Off Semi-Final against Leicester.
Promoter Jitendra Duffill said, “Both Nathan and Tom gave us the news today that they are fit and they can’t wait to get back on track. We always suspected that Tom would be OK, but we are pleasantly surprised by the quick recovery that Nathan has made from his leg injury. We told Nathan that he had to be 100% before returning to the saddle, so he has been training in the gym to test his leg and pelvis. He has had no repercussions from that and is feeling as strong as ever, so I’m delighted to have him and Tom back. It would have been a tragedy for either of them to miss out as they have both played vital roles in getting us here in the first place. They are desperate to help us to our first Play Off Final and they deserve to be a part of it. It’s just a shame that we will still be missing Michael Palm Toft, but that’s Speedway I guess. “

Duffill also expressed his gratitude to Broc Nicol who had agreed to guest for the Bears; “Huge thanks go to Broc Nicol for his offer of help and also to the Sheffield promotion for their sportsmanship in allowing him to guest for us. I spoke to Broc this morning and explained the situation to him and he completely understands, which I’m grateful for.”

With the S G Petch Suite being booked by the main meeting sponsors. We will be opening up main The Bruce Forrester Lounge for fans. The offer will be the same as the usual S G Petch Suite offer. 
For an extra £10 you will get a Free Programme, Pie & Peas & a Hot Drink and a centre green visit for 2 heats. 
Its a big meeting & if you want to watch from the comfort of the main lounge contact Ian Drinkel as soon as possible. as we already have a few bookings.
Lets hope we can get through to a final next weekend and have an even bigger meeting to watch then.

Mob 07827293866  email indrinkel@msn.com

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

Congratulations to Glasgow duo Craig Cook and Rasmus Jensen on winning the Championship Pairs at Somerset last night.

The Bears pair of Erik Riss and Jordan Stewart missed out on the Semi-Final with 19 points, but it was a battling effort by the pair with Stewart scoring an impressive 13 points including two heat wins.

The Bears started off with a 7-2 maximum in their first outing over Berwick, before recording a 6-3 win over Eastbourne to leave themselves looking well placed. However, a 7-2 reverse at the hands of Newcastle left the Bears with a big job to qualify. Despite Jordan winning the Bears last heat, the Birmingham pair of Ellis and Aarnio managed to keep Erik at bay and ensure the Bears missed out on the Semi-Final.

Good luck to Agilia Bears pair Erik Riss and Jordan Stewart, who will be representing the Bears in the Championship Pairs tonight at Somerset.

Stewart will be taking the unfortunate Michael Palm Tofts place, after he suffered season ending injuries at Newcastle.

Good luck lads!

We also wish all our supporters a safe journey to Somerset and Cardiff this weekend, where Bears skipper Charles Wright will take his place at the British GP.

With the unfortunate injury to Michael Palm Toft at the weekend, the Agilia Bears will now look to Jordan Stewart to replace him this Friday, as the Bears take part in the Championship Pairs at Somerset.
Jordan will form a partnership with Erik Riss, with Charles Wright opting out of the Major event as he takes part in the British GP in Cardiff the following day.
Good luck Jordan and Erik!

The Redcar Agilia Bears will face table toppers Leicester Lions in their Play Off Semi-Final. The Bears management received news of their opponents this afternoon and have agreed dates quickly for both legs. Redcar will host Leicester on Friday 27^th September, with the Bears travelling to Leicester the following evening on Saturday 28^th September. The other Semi-Final will therefore take place between the Glasgow Tigers and Somerset Rebels, with dates to be confirmed and expected to be in September.

Giving his thoughts, Promoter Jitendra Duffill said, “I had a feeling that Leicester may pick us as we are suffering from a bit of an injury crisis at the moment. Having said that, we have a good selection of guests to choose from and our boys enjoy riding at Leicester, so they were happy when I broke this news to them. We need to be able to beat anybody if we want to win the league title, so I didn’t really care who we ended up with in the Semi-Final. We are confident of beating anybody over 2 legs and I think that this is set up to be a phenomenal contest. All 4 teams in the play offs this year are capable of challenging for the league title and it will come down to who performs best on the day.”

With the play offs set to take place over the final week of September and early October, the Bears are currently looking to hold the KO Cup Final in mid-October. Talks are currently taking place with the Newcastle promotion and the Bears hope to reveal dates for both legs of the KO Cup very soon. The annual Teesside Silver Helmet will then bring the club’s season to a close in traditional fashion.

Michael Palm Toft and Nathan Greaves were involved in a horrific crash during last night’s Championship League clash at Newcastle. Michael lifted coming off turn 2 during heat 12, falling from the rear of his bike and was run over by Nathan Greaves who was unable to avoid his fallen teammate. Both riders were taken straight to hospital for treatment, with Nathan being discharged after X-Rays.
Nathan has sustained tissue and some ligament damage to his leg and hip, escaping without any breaks. Unfortunately, Michael has a fracture to one the vertebrae in his back and severe bruising to his chest and lungs. He has been kept Newcastle’s RVI Hospital for further assessment and monitoring.
Nathan is hopeful that he will return before the end of the Agilia Bears season, but Michael has not been so fortunate, with his season coming to an end.
We would like to wish both riders a speedy recovery and will keep you updated with their progress.

Redcar Bears suffered defeat in their final league meeting of the season, losing 49-40 at Newcastle on Sunday night.

The main talking point from the meeting though will be the horrendous crash involving Bears pair Michael Palm Toft and Nathan Greaves in heat 12. Going into the final lap, Palm Toft got some unexpected drive and fell. Unfortunately, Greaves was following closely behind and was left with nowhere else to go and also came down. Both riders were treated on track by the ambulance, and both then also took a trip to hospital. We wish both riders a speedy recovery, and we will give you a further update when we know more.

The meeting had started off very tightly, with three shared heats before a 4-2 from Erik Riss and Greaves gave the Bears a two point lead. The Diamonds hit back in heat 6 with a 4-2 of their own, before taking a 1 point lead after an unusual 3-2 scoreline in heat 7. Diamonds guest Tero Aarnio fell on bend 4 and cleared the track, before Jordan Stewart then suffered a puncture and was forced to also retire.

A Diamonds 5-1 in heat 10, with a win for the impressive Ulrich Ostergaard extending the Diamonds lead. The 5-1 in heat 12 further extended the lead, and after the delay whilst the two Bears were transferred to hospital the Bears were up against it to rescue a point. a heat 15 4-2 for Newcastle put paid to any chances of that, with the score finish 49-40 to Newcastle.

Erik Riss top scored for the Bears with 14+1, with Charles Wright scoring 10. Ostergaard top scored for the hosts with 15+1, with Steve Worrall scoring 14+1.

Details of the Play Off Semi Final and KO Cup dates will be announced tomorrow, please check this site or Social Media for details.

Newcastle Diamonds = 49

1. Steve Worrall – 3, 3, 2′, 3, 3 = 14+1 PAID MAXIMUM
2. Max Clegg – 0, 1, 0 = 1
3. Lasse Bjerre – 1′, 1′, 2, 2′, 1 = 7+3
4. Matthew Wethers – 2, 2, 1′, 2 = 7+1
5. Tero Aarnio (Guest) – 2, F, 2, 0 = 4
6. Ulrich Ostergaard – 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 1′ = 15+1
7. Danny Phillips – 1′, 0, 0 = 1+1

Redcar Bears = 40

1. Charles Wright – 2, 3, 3, 2 = 10
2. Kasper Andersen – 1′, F/X, 1′, 1, 0 = 3+1
3. Michael Palm Toft – 3, 2, 1, F/X = 6 (Withdrawn)
4. Jordan Stewart – 0, R, 0, 0 = 0
5. Erik Riss – 3, 2, 3, 1′, 3, 2 = 14+1
6. Josh Embleton (Guest) – 0, 0, 0 = 0
7. Nathan Greaves – 3, 1, 2, 1 (ER – 3) = 7 (Withdrawn)