Cup wait continues despite fightback

Redcar Bears       53

R.E.D Bandits, powered by STS      37

Redcar win 94-86 on aggregate

And so, for the ninth successive season, we can concentrate on the league having failed to negotiate the first hurdle in the MAXICab KO Cup.

Mathematically we were still in the hunt on aggregate thanks to a mini mid-meeting fightback but realistically our hopes disappeared into the Cleveland dust, tailing by 14 points on the night and ten on aggregate after just six heats.

With Danny King, Erik Riss and Jason Edwards dominant while Charles Wright and Jake Mulford were also on the ball the Bears always looked dominant and that four point first leg lead never looked like being enough.

In contrast to the high scoring home middle order Berwick were hampered as Drew Kemp was out of the points for the first time this season while even Craig Cook and Peter Kildemand struggled to get dialled into the early heats.

Mulford was the surprise winner of heat one, Wright eventually passing Danyon Hume but unable to catch Cook before heat two which gave the visiting supporters a not too subtle hint that this was probably not going to be their night.

Red lights brought the initial staging to an early halt, Dayle Wood the man identified by referee Simon Humphrey Kennett as having jumped the start. No such problems with the second attempt, the Aussie again roaring from the tapes gating only to enter the third turn hot and perform a spectacular 360 and dismount, fortunately avoiding injury.

At least the second delay gave Jack Smith the opportunity to sort out his set up and it proved third time lucky as he rounded Tom Spencer for the win.

Edwards mercilessly clamped the chasing Kemp to the inside line before joining King for a 5-1 in three, Kildemand and Smith sharing the points half a lap behind Riss in four before the Bears’ three and four were at it again in five, Cook retiring at the back.

Kildemand found himself on the wrong end of a 5-1 from Wright and Mulford and while Hagon showed good speed behind Riss, Kemp was again out of sorts.

Finally those Berwick fans had something to cheer as Smith and Hume left Mulford trailing at the back in eight for only their second race win and first heat advantage of the night.

Kildemand then showed all his experience to take Edwards wide on the first bend, engineering a gap for Wood to move into third in the process. The Dane was pretty much untroubled by the previously unbeaten King while his team-mate battled well to cling onto Berwick’s second heat advantage of the night.

But their hard work was immediately undone as Wright produced the ride of the night, going around Hagon and then inside Kemp to join Mulford at the front for another Bears’ maximum.

Hume had to work hard to repass Spencer as heat 11 was shared, as was 12; Kemp finally finding the fast line but still unable to find a way past Edwards.

Cook and Kildemand showed that the visitors were not going to give up without a fight, the initial running of heat 13 halted when Riss fell unassisted but the Berwick duo maintained their concentration to make the gate a second time and keep Wright at the back.

Smith’s only blemish in another solid evening’s work came when he fell in the first running of heat 14 but, needing a race win to keep Berwick’s slim aggregate hopes alive, Hagon instead found himself unable to get past Spencer who followed King home for an enthusiastically greeted 5-1.

It was all over bar the shouting, again coming from the home fans, as Riss and King ended the night with another heat maximum, Redcar’s sixth on the night.

Bears: Charles Wright 9+1, Jake Mulford 6+1, Jason Edwards 7+1, Danny King 13+1, Erik Riss 12, Tom Spencer 4+1, Ace Pijper 2+1

Bandits: Craig Cook 8, Danyon Hume 5+1, Drew Kemp 4+1, Sam Hagon 4, Peter Kildemand 8+1, Dayle Wood 2+1, Jack Smith 6+2