Whilst the football did not go quite the way we wanted it (please, move on. Ed), the Redcar TLS Bears enjoyed a very successful weekend racing the Premier League Knockout Cup. The Bears had been drawn against the Mildenhall Tigers in the first round, facing them at home on Thursday evening with the return in Suffolk on Sunday afternoon.
Mildenhall have had a very tough opening to the season, with a number or riders missing meetings through injury coupled with having a young and inexperienced side. Dane Casper Wortmann, who rode in last seasons Silver Helmet meeting, missed the meeting after suffering very serious injuries whilst crashing a few weeks ago against Birmingham. The Tigers could welcome back Robbie Kessler however, who enjoyed a successful spell with the Bears last season and remains very popular with the South Tees faithful. The Bears were still missing Chris Kerr, but were otherwise at full strength and were hoping to build up a good lead to take to the return leg.
Before the meeting, it was announced that young Finn Joni Keskinen has been signed as a short term replacement for Chris. He is a bit of an unknown quantity in this country at least, but has done well in his homeland and also rode in Sweden. He is ultra keen to come over and ride in England, and is very prepared as he has 4 bikes.
The Bears started off well, taking an early lead which they were never going to let go. Ty Proctor again showed his great form, stalking Robbie Kessler for 3 laps before flying round the outside of him on the last bend and sneaking the win on the line in heat 4. James Grieves repeated the same trick the very next heat, this time Jan Graverson was his victim. Mildenhall battled hard however, and were never too far off the pace. Kaj Laukannen, Kessler and Graverson in particular were dangerous, and they all scored good points. It was not good enough for them on the night though, with the Bears running out 53-40 winners, giving them a 13 point lead to defend in the second leg. For the Bears it was a good all round performance with everyone scoring well. Havvy again led the team superbly, scoring 13 whilst Proctor and Grieves got 11 and 10 respectively. After a tough start to the meeting, Josh Auty began to rediscover some of his form, with a win and second place whilst both reserves again chipped in with solid points.
Hopes were high that Redcar would at least be able to defend their lead successfully on Sunday afternoon at Mildenhall. The task was possibly made harder though as the night before Mildenhall beat Kings Lynn, giving them a massive boost ahead of the Redcar tie. Both teams were still without their long term injury victims, however Mildenhall could welcome Henning Loof into their side, after he was released by Somerset earlier in the week. The Bears remained unchanged.
Redcar again started off the meeting well, with two 4-2s in the opening two heats and the tone of the meeting was set from there. The Bears never looked like letting the lead slip, with fantastic performances from Ty Proctor and James Grieves. Proctor scored a stunning 14 points on his first competitive visit to the track, whilst Grieves chipped in with 13. Dan Giffard continued his return to form with a good 7+1 from reserve, whilst Arlo Bugeja and Josh Auty both chipped in with solid scores. Even with an strangely subdued Havelock ( 6 points), the Bears ran out comfortable 50-40 winners on the night with every Bear winning at least one race, and a Bears rider winning 11 of the 15 races. A very good weekends work indeed for the Bears, with 2 away wins on the trot now.
In the next round they will face a sterner task however, after being drawn against the very strong Edinburgh Monarchs.