Sheffield riders won only 7 of the 15 heats tonight, unfortunately 5 of those were by Sheffield riders on loan to Redcar! The track looked good and there was plenty of passing, but the visitors were on a mission whilst the Tigers were just wanting to bask in the glory of their big win at Newcastle. It must have been a rude kick in the pants for them, but how many other visitors will parade such an array of Owlerton specialists.

Heat 1 saw Robbie Kessler speed to an early lead closely followed by Ricky Ashworth. Paul Cooper passed World Champion Gary Havelock exiting turn 4, but Gary reclaimed third spot on the third lap. Benji Compton was obviously on borrowed equipment (his big brothers?) as he looked the bee's knee's in the lead of heat 2 while Josh Auty took three laps to battle his way past Arlo Bugeja to claim third place. Both Tigers made piss poor starts to heat 3 leaving Ben Wilson ahead with Stoney on his exhaust. Ritchie was trying all he could to pass Stoney until the last lap when he ran out of track on the second bend. Heat 4 saw Ty Proctor win from Richard Hall with Josh Auty third. Havelock and Kessler took an untroubled tapes to flag win in heat 5 after Ritchie Hawkins ground to a halt with mechanical gremlins. Bears lead by 10 points!

Ricky was on a tactical in heat 6 and did was what expected of your captain with an important win while Paul tried everything but to no avail as he tried to chase down Benji. (Shame Benji can't have use of the same engine for all matches isn't it!). Richard made a beauty of a pass under Ben on the third lap of heat 7 but was too far behind Stoney by that time. Heat 8 was a classic! Arlo made a good start from the inside gate to take the lead with Paul rounding Robbie on the second bend to go second. Josh caught the pack on the third bend and passed Robbie just as Paul's bike expired! Josh shrugged off Robbie and then set off after Arlo who he closed down and dived past on the third bend, third lap. Joel led heat 9 with Ritchie Hawkins falling as he tried to go around Benji on the apex of the third and fourth turns. Ty caught Joel on the back straight of the third lap, Joel regained the place out of the pits turn but Ty made no mistake around the outside of the first bend on the last lap. Ben won heat 10 from the gate with Ricky's bike having to be carried back into the pits by the track staff. Redcar eleven points ahead.

Chris pulled up at the back of the field after two laps in heat 11 but all attention was on the terrific scrap for the lead. Richard and Gary changed places on virtually every bend until Gary extended a slight advantage on the last lap. Brilliant speedway! Stoney and Ritchie were line abreast down the back straight of  heat 12 with Stoney shading it on the third turn. Josh was on a tactical and rounded Arlo on the third turn and his team mate out of the fourth, but try as he might he couldn't get the better of Stoney. Another great race! Gary sped from the inside gate to lead heat 13 with Richard rounding the others and into second place off the second turn. Ricky came under pressure from Ty who fell going too wide on the third lap while all Richard's wide swoops eventually saw him losing ground on the leader. Ben trapped to lead heat 14 and Chris held off Benji's first lap challenge, but Joel couldn't even get near to him. Ricky led heat 15 until the second lap when Gary passed him out of the pits turn. Ben did enough to hold off Richard leaving the Bears with a 15 point victory.

After the Tigers big win at Newcastle it must have been a bitter pill to swallow but the better side won on the night. I spoke to several people who said they would find better things to do on a Thursday if it carries on like that. Personally, I thought it was a great match with some of the best racing I've seen for ages. I'd much rather see good racing than a big home win. Anyone else agree?

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