Yearbyred

Well after a few FTG races to start with we saw some excellent racing again. Charles Wright is surely one of the top few riders in the league now and his Heat 11 ride was worth the entrance money alone. Hopefully his fall in Heat 15 didn't cause any damage. The rest of the Bears all battled (literally in Greaves case) and looked a solid outfit. Jordan Stewart is a much improved rider this year. For the Tigers - the top 3 all started like trains but didn't get enough support. Kemp looks a very good prospect though and could easily have scored more. Still think they are one of the strongest sides in the league Crowd was down on last week but credit to the promotion (for starting on the time) and the Ref for not hanging about between heats - without a couple of re-runs the meeting would have been complete in 1 and a half hours which on a cold night is a definite plus.

Tough meeting for the Bears - Tigers look very strong and they have a lot of riders who ride the track well. Not surprised Sheffield are confident and will need an excellent performance from Redcar to win. If it's close and the racing is as good as last week it'll be a entertaining night.

Would have been pleased to have won on aggregate, so to win on the night is a bonus. Probably a good time to ride at Newcastle with the fact they had a few new faces in the team and their first home meeting. Charles is a class act these days and excellent from Nathan tonight. Bit more back up from the rest of the team (let’s tell Bacon that every race is Heat 1) so we could even afford MPT to have a poor night (for him) at Brough.

Maybe it needs changing after all (it had to be done )

Given the Bears performance last night it will need a much better performance to hold onto the lead. MPT and Barker need to contribute a lot more and given Jordans previous visits to Brough I'm not expecting much from him either.

Hugely disappointing display from the Bears tonight - the poor gating of last night obviously carried on tonight, which at a track like Leicester is a recipe for a good tonking. Sounded like a very poor meeting to watch in terms of racing.

Well that was as good an opening team fixture as you could possibly hope for - the quality of the racing throughout was excellent, with a couple of stunning races. Bears looked like they would run away with it, good fightback by the Diamonds and then a last heat 5-1 gave the Bears a 12 point advantage. Not sure it will be enough but cracking entertainment. For the Bears Wright was superb, MPT excellent (Heat 10 fantastic ride), Stewart looked improved from last year and Ben gave his all as usual. The other 3 all battled hard and showed promising flashes. Looked like a decent team tonight. For the Diamonds the 3 heat leaders started poorly but picked up and Wethers, Lambert and Clegg chipped in. A very good start and a decent sized crowd.

Should be a close meeting tonight with 5 Riders on show who have been Redcars No 1 plus Steve Worrall. MPT looked a bit down on speed last week so hopefully he's got that out of his system Performance of the second strings and reserves will be crucial - Stewart and Greaves looked good last week, Bacon not quite as quick out of the gate and looking forward to seeing how Jack gets on. Think Diamonds will win overall but hopefully a good safe meeting to start the season.

Cracking race from the fours final last year been added to the YouTube channel today.

That's why I posted the link to the Youtube channel - good advert for Redcar speedway and the quality of racing. Keep checking as more videos are being added this week I believe.

Bears now have a youtube channel - a few races from last season on there already. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCArroFXv3grFM29EAjfdUng

Poorly worded but I was including the reserves in my discussion of both teams.

Very strong top 3 now at the expense of a more balanced team but I think Diamonds will do pretty well given that Brough gives them a decent home advantage. Like Redcar a lot will depend how the second strings back up the top end riders.

if Nike isn't riding for the Diamonds (pleased as I like him) I'm sure some team will fit him in - cracking rider to watch.

I assume you mean ulterior. Either way it worked, this cunning devious plan.

In his interview on the Bears Facebook page Ben admitted to putting some false information out to keep people guessing.

Given how the Diamonds team has a few ex Redcar Riders this season, maybe you will have a few of this team riding for you next year.

More than happy with that team - a top 3 who ride the MPA as good as anyone and 4 young lads who can only improve. Really pleased to see Charles Wright back. Well done to the management.

Well you are doing the announcing it would appear, nothing official until the full team is revealed at the Social event on Friday evening. Unless that's changed.

Does he ride in Denmark on a Friday though? Lots of people are suggesting this may be an issue for the Bears.

I suppose things that are endangered need protecting.

Why do they have to change night? If they do I would have to assume it would be Friday, which doesn’t work well for me but may do for other families with kids. Not particularly enamoured by the 38 point limit.

Thanks for the confirmation.

Championship limit is 38?

Not that I have any knowledge but I think the cancellation of the Ben meeting had zero to do with lack of track work.