Bears to beat the Bandits?Tonight, the Redcar TLS Bears welcome the surprise package of the season so far, the Berwick Bandits, to the South Tees Motorsports Park in Premier League action(7:30 pm start). They had been tipped by many, myself included, to struggle this season but have exceeded peoples expectations so far. The Bears meanwhile are now 4 meetings unbeaten and will be full of confidence going into this one that they can make it 5.

The Bears line-up will be unchanged again, with rider replacement still operating for the injured Chris Kerr. Chris is back home in California recovering, and has told fans on the forum that he intends to be back earlier than predicted although this still will not be until the middle of June at the very earliest. His short-term replacement Joni Keskinen will join the Bears from May 15th. The Bears will be very confident of victory this evening, with the side now all showing the form they are capable of. Gary Havelock had a quiet night at Mildenhall on Sunday, but has been nigh on unbeatable at home this season, whilst James Grieves and the impressive Ty Proctor have been hitting big scores consistently everywhere. Josh Auty has had a troubled start to the season with engine problems and problems getting out the start, but in recent weeks has began to show the kind of form the Bears fans know he is capable of producing. At reserve, Arlo Bugeja has had a great season so far and is brimming with confidence whilst after a quiet start to the season, Dan Giffard is beginning to hit top form also.

The Bandits will have a much changed line-up on display at the South Tees Motorsports Park from the one that started the season. Manu Hauzinger lasted only a few weeks before being replaced by Henning Bager. Henning performed well for Berwick, but he was on a short term deal and left the club last week. His replacement, Benny Johanssan will make his debut for Berwick against the Bears. They will also be without Italian Guiglelmo Franchetti, who has broken his collarbone for the second time this season. The Bandits will be spearheaded by Adrian Rymel and Michael Makovsky, both of whom have had strong starts to the season. Tero Aarnio and Norbert Magosi make up the rest of the side, with Magosi in particular having a good season and he will be entertaining to watch this evening.

There was a shock for everyone connected with Redcar Speedway overnight with the news that fan Dennis ‘Beefy’ Beeforth has been killed in an accident. Dennis was a popular character at the South Tees Motorsports Park, helping out wherever he was needed. He was often to be found at the track helping with repairs, painting or anything that needed doing, and worked as a steward in the car parks before meetings. He will be sadly missed, our condolences go out to Dennis’ family and friends.