Yearbyred

I see that Charles Wright has pulled out of riding for Somerset tonight - could tell last night he wasn't anywhere near 100%.

Perks was ill when he rode at Workington but that aside his form at home has been fantastic and I'm pretty certain he would have contributed much more than his replacement and been more than a match for Williamson. As previously stated Comets caught us at a very good time and deserved their win last night.

It's almost as if I know what I'm talking about! Charles was clearly not 100% and his scoring was well down (he's been Mr Consistent at home up to now) and we badly missed Perks at reserve (although I thought Bacon battled well). Against a poorer team we might have got away with it, but the Comets have a few track experts and solid back up and deserved their win. Frustrating that we have never fielded our best 1 - 7 yet but injuries always play a part during the season.

With a full team I'd be confident of a home win but without Perks and not sure if Charles will be 100% it's going to be tough for the Bears I think.

Guest or Guests?

So who rides at reserve on Thursday - assuming Perks is injured and Hall doesn't ride?

Don't think Richard will be riding given his response on twitter. To be fair a lot of Redcar fans have been saying that a team change needed to be made so hopefully, whoever the new rider is, it will improve the team.

About the result I expected given the side we had out. Always going to be difficult against a strong Tigers line up at home.

GIven our injury issues (as a Bears fan) I hope the weather isn't kind and the meeting has to be re-arranged.

No Andersen for Redcar - R/R, which definitely weakens the Bears.

As a part time member of the prawn sarnie brigade I agree it did add to the entertainment last night. Nearly missed out on my dessert from the sweet trolley when she distracted me!

There are idiots at every track. We were graced by the presence of the lovely lady from Newcastle who booed every Bears rider that dared to ride past her (which was quite a lot as she was next to the pit gate)

To be fair it was all pretty tame stuff - pantomime villain booing, not malicious. Only got worse when Lambert decided to "spur" the crowd on. I remember Ben Barker getting the same reaction a few years ago!

Yes that's the one DiamondGlory. If we had known about his comments we could have boo'ed even louder

Disappointed by Lamberts comments - yes it was wet but as others have said it dried out as the meeting went on and there was some very competitive racing. He seemed to be able to walk on it ok when he was waving to the crowd all the way down the home straight!

Garrity was given rider of the night.

There are times when you don't mind being wrong (not as wrong as some on the thread mind). I thought it would be close but it turned out to be a very comfortable victory for the Bears. Excellent team performance - Hall excepted everybody chipped in but Perks was exceptional (but still didn't win Sponsors rider of the night which was a bit harsh) For the Diamonds Lambert had a stinker (although how he stayed on in Heat 1 I'll never know), Worrall looked very fast when he gated (which wasn't that often) but that was the best racing performance I've seen from LIndgren, really mixing it. Considering how wet the track was at the start there was some excellent racing later on and the meeting was completed in pretty good time. Enjoyment back at Redcar and it's good to see.

We would have done, but you've put Teeside instead of Teesside so not so sure now

Had quite a bit of rain in recent days (although it's dry at the moment). Forecast for tomorrow isn't great either. If it does go ahead I think a narrow Bears win.

"Expect a long meeting tonight if he's the referee as he always holds the tapes too long so expect a few reruns" 3 people off 15m for tape touching after 5 heats. Wise words.

Or if Charles Wright had been riding instead of the 4 points from R/R it might have been a lot closer. We will never know! Mind you we did manage to get a good guest replacement for JG.

My personal preference is for custard with Humble Pie - very happy to be proved wrong. Well done, Coty. Good team performance from the Bears with everyone chipping in. The match was tight up until 3 races to go and the final score makes it look more comfortable than it felt. Think Covatti's crash knocked the stuffing out of the Witches - looked nasty and hope is is ok. Not as many good races this week but can't complain about a good victory against one of the better teams in the League.

He has also had lots of meetings where he has struggled here since then - he's run last in his last 9/10 rides here and hasn't even looked like a decent reserve. I'd be quite happy to be proved wrong but so far he is way off the pace and we are considerably weaker than we could be.

I honestly believe that with the original 1- 7 that the Bears had lined up (Busch at 2) the Bears would have been very , very difficult to beat at home this season. With Garcia at 2 we are much more vulnerable as he is , currently, a long way off the pace. Bears will need the other 6 riders to be on the top of their game to win this one against an excellent looking Witches lineup.

Think we are "having a pop" because we saw how he rode tonight.