Redcar Bears

The Redcar Bears are a British speedway team who currently compete in the SGB Championship (middle tier of the British speedway leagues). Their major team honour to date is the SGB Championship KO Cup win in 2019 against rivals Newcastle Diamonds. The team also run a junior side called the Redcar Cubs and the Teesside Tigers.

Redcar Bears
Club information
Track address	Ecco Arena Dormor Way Southbank Road Middlesbrough TS6 6XH
Country	England
Founded	1994
Team manager	Gavin Parr
League	SGB Championship
Website	www.redcar-speedway.com
Club facts
Colours	Red, White, Black and Grey
Track size	271^[1] metres (296 yd)
Track record time	52.2 seconds
Track record date	28 October 2022, Teesside Silver Pan
Track record holder	Lewis Kerr
Current team
Rider CMA Danny King Charles Wright Erik Riss Connor Bailey Danyon Hume Jason Edwards Jake Mulford
Major team honours
SGB Championship KO Cup 2019 Young Shield Winners 2007

History

The Bears started life as the Cleveland Bays during the 1994 British League Division Three season, they finished as runner-up before entering the 1995 but failed to complete the season and withdrew from the league.^[2]

It was not until 2006 that speedway returned to Middlesbrough, with a new team name of Redcar Bear racing at the purpose built South Tees Motorsports Park. The team entered the 2006 Premier League speedway season, the Premier League was division 2 at the time.^[3] In 2007, the Bears won the Premier League consolation tournament the Young Shield,^[4] beating the Birmingham Brummies.

From 2008 to 2016 the team continued to compete in the Premier League with a best placed finish of 5th in 2009. In 2017, the team joined the SGB Championship (the new name for division 2) and finished in 5th place. The Bears were awarded the 2017 Championship Track of the Year by the Speedway Control Board, an award voted for throughout the season based on referee's match reports.^[5]

In 2019, Jitendra Duffill became co-promoter replacing Kevin Keay, with Jade Mudgway continuing as the team manager and co-promoter.^[6][7][8] Former World Speedway Champion and Redcar rider Gary Havelock also re-joined the club as rider coach.^[9] Race nights switched to Friday from Thursday and the club were branded as the Redcar Agilia Bears after London based company Agilia Infrastructure Partners Limited became the club's main sponsor.^[10][11] During the 2019 season, the Bears beat Newcastle Diamonds in the Championship Knockout Cup final.^[12] Additionally Bears' rider Charles Wright became the 2019 British Speedway Champion after winning the final at the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester and Erik Riss won his first Championship Riders title at Sheffield.^[13][14]

For the 2020 season the Bears retained five of the previous years team but the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19.^[15][16]

2021 saw the Bears lose their reign as K.O. Cup holders in preliminary round defeat to the Birmingham Brummies and despite qualifying for the end of season Play-Offs, were beaten in the Quarter Finals by the Edinburgh Monarchs.

In 2022 a new name was announced for the South Tees Motorsports Park as The ECCO Arena, after long-time sponsor ECCO Finishing Supplies snapped up the opportunity to take over the stadium naming rights.^[17] The first silverware of the SGB Championship 2022 went to the Redcar pairing of Charles Wright and Lewis Kerr who lifted the SGB Championship 2022 Pairs Championship held at Oxford on Friday 12 August.^[18] Also in August, Katie Gordon who rides for the Redcar Cubs won the inaugural NORA Women's British Championship held over a series of 3 events with a winner takes all final at the home of the Wight Warriors on the Isle of Wight.^[19]

League history

• 1994 – British League (div 3) – 2nd; (as Cleveland Bays)
• 1995 – Academy League – withdrew; (as Cleveland Bays)
• 2006 – Premier League – 6th;
• 2007 – Premier League – 9th;
• 2008 – Premier League – 7th;
• 2008 – Conference League – 3rd; (as Redcar Cubs)
• 2009 – Premier League – 5th;
• 2010 – Premier League – 14th;
• 2011 – Premier League – 10th;
• 2012 – Premier League – 9th;
• 2013 – Premier League – 6th;
• 2014 – Premier League – 10th;
• 2015 – Premier League – 13th;
• 2016 – Premier League – 13th;
• 2017 – Championship – 5th;
• 2018 – Championship – 10th;
• 2019 – Championship – 3rd; play off semi finals
• 2020 – Cancelled due to Coronavirus pandemic;
• 2021 – Championship – 4th;^[20]
• 2022 – Championship - 6th, PO QF;

Riders

Notable riders

•   Gary Havelock (1992 Individual Speedway World Champion)
•   Charles Wright (2019 British Speedway Champion)
•   Erik Riss (2019 Championship Riders' Champion)
•   Dimitri Bergé (2018 World Longtrack Team Champion - France)
•   Mathieu Trésarrieu (2017 World Longtrack Champion)

Previous seasons

Extended content

2006 Team   Gary Havelock   Kevin Little   Mathieu Trésarrieu   Chris Kerr   Daniel Giffard   Jack Hargreaves   Richard Juul   Tomáš Suchánek2007 Team   Gary Havelock   James Grieves   Mathieu Trésarrieu   Chris Kerr   Daniel Giffard   Jamie Courtney   Rusty Hodgson   Josh Auty Also Rode:   Robbie Kessler   Jack Hargreaves 2008 Team   Gary Havelock   James Grieves   Ty Proctor   Chris Kerr   Daniel Giffard   Arlo Bugeja   Josh Auty Also Rode:   Joni Keskinen 2009 Team   Gary Havelock   Ty Proctor   Carl Stonehewer   Ben Wilson   Robbie Kessler   Benji Compton   Arlo Bugeja 2010 Team=   Gary Havelock   Joe Haines   James Grieves   Emiliano Sanchez   Charles Wright   Peter Juul Larsen   Tomas Suchanek 2011 Team   Jason Lyons   Peter Juul   Matěj Kůs   Gary Havelock   Aaron Summers   Adam Roynon   Robert Branford 2012 Team   Ulrich Ostergaard   Matěj Kůs   Carl Wilkinson - No.3 was previously Gary Havelock but Wilkinson signed due to Havelock's injury.   Justin Sedgmen   Aaron Summers   Max Dilger   Mark Jones - Replaced Robert Branford 2013 Team   Ulrich Ostergaard   Matěj Kůs   Carl Wilkinson   Hugh Skidmore   Aaron Summers   Max Dilger   Mickey Dyer 2014 Team   Richard Lawson   Mark Lemon   Carl Wilkinson   Hugh Skidmore   Aaron Summers   Jan Graversen   Rafal Konopka Also Rode:   Luke Crang   Richard Hall 2015 Team   Lasse Bjerre   Matěj Kůs   Hugh Skidmore   Stuart Robson   Jonas B Andersen   Dimitri Bergé   Jan Graversen Also Rode:   Adam Roynon   Rafal Konopka   Ben Morley 2016 Team   Lasse Bjerre   Tobias Busch   Hugh Skidmore   David Bellego   Jonas B Andersen   Lee Payne   Jye Etheridge Also Rode:   Jacob Bukhave   Simon Nielsen 2017 Team   Jason Garrity   Ben Barker   Charles Wright   Jonas B Andersen   Tobias Busch   Danny Ayres   Ellis Perks Also Rode:   Coty Garcia Replaced Tobias Busch on a 28-day loan period.   Richard Hall Replaced by Danny Ayres 17 May 2017. 2017 Competitions & Results 2018 Team   Ben Barker   Thomas Jørgensen   Dimitri Bergé   Jonas B Andersen   Mikkel B Andersen   Jordan Stewart   Nike Lunna Also rode:   Theo Pijper^[21] - Replaced 31 May 2018 by Thomas Jørgensen ^[22]   Matěj Kůs^[23] - Replaced 3 June 2018 by Dimitri Bergé^[24]   Nathan Greaves - On a 28-day contract replacing Tobias Busch 3 June 2018 – 5 July 2018 ^[24]   Tobias Busch - Replaced 9 August 2018 by Nike Lunna ^[25] Jade Mudgway deputised for Team Manager Jitendra Duffill.^[26] 2018 Competitions & Results 2019 Team   Erik Riss (2019 Championship Riders Champion)   Kasper Andersen   Jordan Stewart   Charles Wright (2019 British Speedway Champion)   Michael Palm Toft   Nathan Greaves   Tom Woolley Also Rode:   Ben Barker^[27] replaced 4/6/19 by Ulrich Ostergaard ^[28]   Ulrich Ostergaard replaced by Erik Riss 3/7/19   Tom Bacon replaced by Kasper Andersen 3/7/19   Jack Smith replaced by Tom Woolley 3/7/19 3 July 2019 changes^[29] 2019 Competitions & Results 2020 Team   Charles Wright   Erik Riss   Michael Palm Toft   Jordan Stewart   Kasper Andersen   Joe Lawlor   Jordan Jenkins 2021 Team   Charles Wright   Michael Palm Toft   Jake Allen   Jordan Stewart   Anders Rowe   James Sarjeant   Jordan Jenkins 2022 Team   Charles Wright   Erik Riss   Lewis Kerr   Kasper Andersen   Jordan Jenkins   Jason Edwards   Kyle Newman Also Rode:   Adam Roynon Replaced by Kyle Bickley 4/7/22.^[30]   Kyle Bickley Replaced by Kyle Newman 11/8/22.^[31]

References

1. "Club Info".
2. "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
3. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - MODERN ERA (1991-PRESENT)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
4. Neal, Martin (29 October 2007). "Shield-winning Redcar Bears now go for double". Gazettelive.co.uk.
5. "Bears win an award!". Redcar-speedway.com.
6. "New Promoter for Bears". Redcar-speedway.com.
7. "Duffill steps up". Redcar-speedway.com.
8. "Mudgway and Terry the Track return". Redcar-speedway.com.
9. http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/966103820?-17473:2778:most_read_top#out^{[dead link]}
10. "BEARS MOVE TO FRIDAYS - British Speedway Official Website". Speedwaygb.co.uk. 3 March 2017.
11. "Agilia Infrastructure Partners Ltd the Bears main backers in 2019!". Redcar-speedway.com.
12. "Bears through to KO Cup Final!".
13. "Erik Riss wins Championship Riders title!".
14. "RISS MAKES REDCAR HISTORY - Speedway Star : Weekly Speedway Magazine and Xtra".
15. "Bears complete side!".
16. "OFFICIAL STATEMENT - British Speedway Official Website".
17. "Welcome to the ECCO Arena!".
18. https://britishspeedway.co.uk/major-events/bears-are-pairs-champions/^{[bare URL]}
19. "The teenage champion on a mission to get more women into Speedway". 17 August 2022.
20. "BRITISH SPEEDWAY UPDATE - British Speedway Official Website".
21. "Bears make team change". Redcar-speedway.com.
22. "Team news update". Redcar-speedway.com.
23. "Bears release Kus". Redcar-speedway.com.
24. "Bears bring in two". Redcar-speedway.com.
25. "Bears swoop for Lunna". Redcar-speedway.com.
26. "Duffill steps down as team boss for now". Redcar-speedway.com.
27. "Bears release Barker". Redcar-speedway.com.
28. McGhie, Keith (4 June 2019). "Redcar Bears bring in Danish star to replace former skipper". Gazettelive.
29. "Bears make three changes".
30. "Bickley's a Bear".
31. "Newman for the Bears".