Redcar Bears v Lakeside Hammers – Thursday 24th May – Championship – 7:30pm start

Following on from last week’s thrilling win over Glasgow, the Redcar ‘ECCO Finishing Supplies’ Bears take on Championship new boys the Lakeside Hammers at the Media Prima Arena on Thursday night (7:30pm start).

Last week’s victory was a much needed boost for the Bears, with Jordan Stewart in particular having a fine night at reserve. Both Stewart and Mikkel B Andersen have been improving as the season goes on, and co-promoter Jitendra Duffill is delighted with the progress they are making:

I was both pleased and relieved to get our league campaign at home off to a good start last Thursday with a win over Glasgow. We got contributions from everyone which was encouraging, but special mentions for Matej Kus for making arrangements to get here at late notice and to our ‘official’ new assets Mikkel B Andersen and Jordan Stewart for their outstanding performances. Both Mikkel and Jordan showed just why I was so keen to have them both here this year and I hope people are starting to understand why it has been worth persevering. Both will only get better and although we would all love to see them score highly every week, we have to be conservative with our expectations and try not to put too much pressure on them at this stage.

Despite the victory on Thursday night, the Bears again struggled on the road – losing at Glasgow on Friday night. The one bright spot of that night though was the excellent performance of number 1 Ben Barker. The Bears captain has battled hard all season, without getting the points his efforts deserved. Duffill hopes this marks a turning point for the popular Barker:

Glasgow away on Friday was another disappointment and our form on the road is a concern. For now my priority is to get us winning at home every week and that should see things improve away from home. One major positive to come from last Friday was the performance of Ben Barker. Ben has struggled to find enough speed from his bikes so far  but anyone watching him every week could not deny that the effort and bravery are still there and it was only a matter of time before things turned around. I hope that will be the turning point for him and it also shows how quickly things can change. I will be pointing that out to the rest of our side.

This Thursday, the Bears are coming up against another strong side in Lakeside. The ex-Elite League club, who spent last year in the National League, have moved into the Championship this season and have started very well. They also have a number of riders who go well around the Media Prima Arena – including ex-Bears number 1 Richard Lawson. With both sides at full strength, Duffill is expecting another tough clash:

This week’s opposition will be just as tough, if not tougher than last weeks. Lakeside have started the season in great form and have a very strong top 2 in Nick Morris and Richard Lawson. Both are very quick here at the Media Prima Arena and they have very good back up in Adam Ellis and Kyle Newman. You will notice a big shake up in our riding order again as Mikkel has now dropped to number 6 and I think that should leave us very strong at reserve for home fixtures. Again, our reserves they will be vital to us on Thursday and we will need at least one of them to score heavily if we are to come out on top.

It promises to be another exciting night of Speedway at Redcar, and we hope to see as many of you there as possible to cheer on the Bears!

Redcar: Ben Barker, Theo Pijper, Jonas B Andersen, Tobias Busch, Matej Kus, Mikkel B Andersen, Jordan Stewart
Lakeside: Nick Morris, Ben Morley, Adam Ellis, Kyle Newman, Richard Lawson, Zach Wajtknecht, Alfie Bowtell