Edwards excellent as Bears battle to home win!
The Redcar “Agilia” Bears battled to a vital 45-39 home victory over the Edinburgh Monarchs to claim 3 SGB Championship points at the Ecco Arena. Erik Riss top scored again for Redcar with 10+1 whilst Sam Masters hit 11 for the visitors as they took home a consolation point. Jason Edwards produced for the Bears with a match winning 7 from reserve. The meeting was abandoned after 14 heats due to a heavy downpour at the Ecco Arena.
Masters won heat 1 at a canter but with Redcar filling the minor places the spoils were shared. Redcar took an early lead after heat 2 with Edwards and guest reserve Ben Morley flying from the gate for a comfortable 5-1.
Kye Thomson gated in heat 3 and despite Riss looking likely to pass on the third bend of lap 1 the Australian held off the challenge to ultimately cruise to a comfortable win. Again, Redcar filled the minor placings to ensure Edinburgh could not close the gap.
Edinburgh then closed the gap in heat 4 with Josh Pickering passing Lewis Kerr on the fourth bend of lap 1 to take the win and with it a new track record! In the battle of the guests at the back, Kyle Bickley got the better of Morley to bring the Monarchs within 2.
After a shared heat 5 Redcar re-asserted their 4 point advantage with Charles Wright taking his first win of the evening and with Adam Roynon in third the Bears had their second heat advantage. Heat 7 was another 3-3 with Kerr taking the chequered flag to win impressively from Thomson in second.
Drama followed in an incident packed heat 8. Redcar looked set to take the heat advantage as Lasse Fredriksen fell whilst challenging Morley and with Roynon leading comfortably Redcar looked set for a 6 point lead. Disaster then struck for Roynon who got accquainted with the 2nd bend air fence on the final lap which gifted Bickley the win. Roynon pushed the bike round for the point with the Redcar faithful cheering him along every step of the way.
The ninth race of an exciting meeting saw Kasper Andersen get a much needed heat win and with Riss riding shotgun the Bears headed into an 8 point lead. Wright won heat 11 by the length of a straight and with reserve switch Edwards in third, Redcar looked set for a rare, comfortable win.
As we know at Redcar, things are never that easy and so it proved as Edinburgh used their tactical substitute to great effect as Masters and Pickering combined for a 5-1 to bring Edinburgh within six.
Heat 12 saw the 6th shared heat of the evening but the Monarchs clawed themselves within touching distance of the Bears in heat 13 as Masters took a tapes to flag win with the action all happening behind the Aussie. Pickering first passed Kerr and then set after Wright. The Bears skipper hit the fence on the start line and looked to have lost his position but he remarkably held onto his machinery and somehow secured second to limit Edinburgh to a 4-2.
Jason Edwards stole the show in heat 14 with arguably, his best ride at the Ecco Arena. The Mildenhall man somehow held off Paco Castagna to take the win and with Andersen in third the Bears went six ahead again.
Heat 15 did not get past the opening bends on two different occasions due to unsatisfactory starts as Wright took a heavy fall in the second staging which ultimately saw the skipper withdraw from the meeting. A torrential downpour then hit the track and despite the best efforts of the track staff the meeting was abandoned with the track being deemed too greasy.
Redcar’s Erik Riss was happy with the result and his performance, “It was a good night, the track was really grippy today which made it a little challenging at the beginning. After my first ride I made changes to my set up and that helped me score well.”
The German also reserved praise for the performance of Jason Edwards. “Heat 14 was a really good ride from Jason. I was hoping he would go wider and then Castagna pushed him wide which helped him pull away! It was a really good performance from Jason.”
The Ipswich man also discussed next week’s clashes with Berwick at home in the KO Cup and Newcastle away in the league, “On paper, Newcastle aren’t the strongest of sides but it will depend on who they get as a guest at number 1. Ultimately, we should be targeting 4 points from that meeting. We also need to build a strong lead against Berwick ahead of the second leg so that will be the aim on Friday.”
Redcar Bears = 45
- Charles Wright = 10
- Adam Roynon = 3+2
- Erik Riss = 10+1
- Kasper Andersen = 5+1
- Lewis Kerr = 6
- Jason Edwards = 7
- Ben Morley (G) = 4+1
Edinburgh Monarchs = 39
- Sam Masters = 11
- Lasse Fredriksen = 1+1
- Kye Thomson = 9
- Paco Castagna = 3+1
- Josh Pickering = 9+1
- Jacob Hook = 0
- Kyle Bickley (G) = 6+1
