Middlesbrough Tigers , bit of a revue.

[Fortythirtyeight]

Well as there’s very little , if any , feedback on here about any of their matches it would appear there’s little interest in the team from anyone on here.

As I attended most of their home matches and a couple away I’d say they deservedly finished bottom as they were weak from the off. Pijper lacked support in the heat leader department as Spencer didn’t score well consistently and Phillips scoring was very poor throughout on slow machinery. Halder was a good second string , Ward was good one match , poor the next and Rathbone , despite occasional great rides and some very poor ones, didn't last long before being booted out with local lad Kelly coming in who was very poor indeed .The younger Pijper did ok and is learning his trade nicely . Southwick came in and looks to be the one to watch in 2026 if Middlesbrough run again. 

Crowds at Redcar appeared ok, 200-300 ish ? but running at different times on different days wasn’t good ( Fridays Saturdays Sundays , 12 noon ( ?) 3pm, 7:30 and there may have been a 6pm in there somewhere .

Poor results but at least they blooded a couple of new names with Southwick the pick but maybe watch the progress of newbie Seth Norman who’s come through the Redcar Cubs NJL side on a 125 and did well in the last match of the season a very wet track.

As it’s supposed to be a ‘development’ league I do hope they run again but can see a lack of riders being an issue.
 

[Sargent10]

9 minutes ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

Well as there’s very little , if any , feedback on here about any of their matches it would appear there’s little interest in the team from anyone on here.

As I attended most of their home matches and a couple away I’d say they deservedly finished bottom as they were weak from the off. Pijper lacked support in the heat leader department as Spencer didn’t score well consistently and Phillips scoring was very poor throughout on slow machinery. Halder was a good second string , Ward was good one match , poor the next and Rathbone , despite occasional great rides and some very poor ones, didn't last long before being booted out with local lad Kelly coming in who was very poor indeed .The younger Pijper did ok and is learning his trade nicely . Southwick came in and looks to be the one to watch in 2026 if Middlesbrough run again. 

Crowds at Redcar appeared ok, 200-300 ish ? but running at different times on different days wasn’t good ( Fridays Saturdays Sundays , 12 noon ( ?) 3pm, 7:30 and there may have been a 6pm in there somewhere .

Poor results but at least they blooded a couple of new names with Southwick the pick but maybe watch the progress of newbie Seth Norman who’s come through the Redcar Cubs NJL side on a 125 and did well in the last match of the season a very wet track.

As it’s supposed to be a ‘development’ league I do hope they run again but can see a lack of riders being an issue.
 

As a dad of a NDL rider who actually rode on Sunday conditions were not brilliant but because Redcar is such a good track it was rideable and racing was good imho, my biggest concern is what you pointed out, there is not a endless supply of riders at this level, no consistency with meetings is a massive concern because lads lose interest etc, hopefully they will look at this at the agm and realise it requires some serious thought 

[arnieg]

1 hour ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

Well as there’s very little , if any , feedback on here about any of their matches it would appear there’s little interest in the team from anyone on here.

As I attended most of their home matches and a couple away I’d say they deservedly finished bottom as they were weak from the off. Pijper lacked support in the heat leader department as Spencer didn’t score well consistently and Phillips scoring was very poor throughout on slow machinery. Halder was a good second string , Ward was good one match , poor the next and Rathbone , despite occasional great rides and some very poor ones, didn't last long before being booted out with local lad Kelly coming in who was very poor indeed .The younger Pijper did ok and is learning his trade nicely . Southwick came in and looks to be the one to watch in 2026 if Middlesbrough run again. 

Crowds at Redcar appeared ok, 200-300 ish ? but running at different times on different days wasn’t good ( Fridays Saturdays Sundays , 12 noon ( ?) 3pm, 7:30 and there may have been a 6pm in there somewhere .

Poor results but at least they blooded a couple of new names with Southwick the pick but maybe watch the progress of newbie Seth Norman who’s come through the Redcar Cubs NJL side on a 125 and did well in the last match of the season a very wet track.

As it’s supposed to be a ‘development’ league I do hope they run again but can see a lack of riders being an issue.
 

They didn't.

[Fortythirtyeight]

7 minutes ago, arnieg said:

They didn't.

My mistake, deservedly finished second bottom !

[boz]

I didnt really get chance to see mush of the Tigers this year unfortunately, different days and times always seemed to clash with other plans.

Southwick certainly looks a prospect and Norman has like you said rode well round Redcar for what feels like years already. Feels like a big problem is lack of track time/meetings at this level. Must be hard to get any real momentum. And second halves seem to have dried up a bit.

Really hope the Tigers come back to the tapes again next season - I would prefer the empty Fridays in the Bears schedule to be filled by Tigers meetings but I understand the reasons why this was changed.