Redcar Bears Speedway

Redcar is the sport's most underrated club. The passion and grit the fans show is backed up by one of the best racing tracks and promotions in the country, a must-see for all speedway fans.

Date Visited
Friday 13th May 2022
Fixture
Redcar Bears v Poole Pirates

Redcar is the sport's most underrated club. The passion and grit the fans show is backed up by one of the best racing tracks in the country, a must-see for all speedway fans.

It's time to make another cross-country excursion, this time to the North East to see the Redcar Bears in action. My last tour visit was on Thursday 5th May when I witnessed a strong Ipswich performance against the Aces. I made a last-minute decision to stop in at Peterborough on Monday for their home match with Belle Vue. This time though, the Aces were in no mood for messing around. The Panthers were utterly decimated by the Aces, in front of the cameras as well! I can't remember the last time I've seen a full-strength 1 to 7 get turned over like that at home, Belle Vue ran out 36-54 winners, and it could have been much worse!

I digress. It had been a full four days since my last speedway fix, so I pencilled in a visit to Redcar to stop my veins melting due to lack of methanal fume inhalation. Since my visit to the Witches, word of my tour around the country had gotten around. Speedway Star's legendary journalist Peter Oakes got in touch, and we spent some time discussing my tour, motives, and what I was trying to achieve. It was great to talk about it with him. Peter plans to feature my stint in the speedway star sometime in the future. He also arranged for me to have a picture on the track at Redcar with track photographer Colin Poole. With that in mind, I needed to leave nice and early to prevent any drama getting into the stadium!

I set off early and made my way north. I got familiar with the A1 early as I would be spending plenty of time on it! It was a challenging ride, not because of heat or rain, but wind! The crosswind travelling on the bike can get very tiring. After a few hours, I was feeling the strain, so I stopped for some lunch. Recharged, I completed my journey north into Middlesborough. I wasn't planning on stopping overnight, but the journey flattened me, so I booked a local hotel and dropped my gear off. I had a shower and changed into my lighter riding gear for the short trip to the ECCO Arena. I passed the football stadium on-route which I'd visited before for a premier league football match, Boro taking on London's Arsenal.

I digress again. The speedway can be a little tricky to find. Watch out for the big red building on the corner next to the Redcar county sign. You feel like you're driving to an industrial estate dead end but persevere. There is a speedway track back there! South Tees Motor Sports Park is a multi-sports complex containing a speedway track, a go-kart track, a motorcycle training area and a dirt track. The venue holds leisure activities throughout the year, and the speedway forms part of that set-up. It's a great asset to speedway in the northeast. Parking is easy at Redcar, with plenty of space and no charge, which is refreshing. You enter the turnstiles onto turn 1 of the track, most facilities on your left.

I arrived at Redcar's rider entrance, and the lovely lady at the pit gate let me through after I explained who I was. I popped to the entrance to pay my money (I wasn't after freebies) and get a programme. Then I had to ride through the walkways used by the fans, so it was a slow crawl. I arrived at the pits, and the guy guarding the pit gate questioned me like I was bringing in the Trojan horse. Fortunately, Colin Poole came to my rescue and parked me in the pits. I was having a photo with the Redcar team. How cool is that! I seized the opportunity to snoop around the track and the pits, having a closer look than usual. It's an exciting race circuit with a natural racers shape.

Redcar is relatively short at 266 metres, 11 metres bigger than Edinburgh's Armadale but 7 metres smaller than the last track I visited, Ipswich. The track is circular in shape, having a width to length ratio of 56%, similar to Glasgow. The straights are a nice width at 10.9 metres, the same as Leicester, and the bends are 13.8 metres wide, a fraction bigger than Birmingham. Redcar has great banking on the bends allowing the riders to get stuck in and use all the space across the width of the track. Riders average 46.5 mph at Redcar, 0.3 faster than Birmingham and Scunthorpe.

The weather was overcast with very light spitting in the air, but nothing that would trouble the speedway. Whilst the riders were gearing up, I looked around the stadium. There's an elevated covered 'grandstand' on the home straight, near turn 4, offering a great view of the track and pits, but you'll have to pay an additional £1 to enter. There are plenty of smaller terraces available along the homes straight with small platforms to bring you above the racing. There are a few smaller stands on turn 2, but my favourite new feature is the viewing installed on the backstraight. The promotors installed a new concrete path with a leaning barrier along the backstraight. It offers a terrific view above the track, and you're close to the action. It's my new favourite spot to watch speedway at Redcar! The pits at Redcar face the track so you get a good view of what's occuring wherever you stand, adding a bit more value to the evening.

I made my way back to the pits to see the riders completing their warm-ups, Colin called me over, and I had my picture with the Redcar team just before they marched out on parade. I hauled my bike out of the pits, grabbed my programme board and made my way round to the backstraight to watch the action.

Poole Pirates provided the competition for the Bears, and they were in good form. The reigning champions had again opted for a solid top 3, retaining Danny King and Steve Worrall and adding Richard Lawson to replace the retired Rory Schlein. The last time I saw the Bears, they got thumped at Leicester, so there was room for improvement!

Poole got to work straight away, Danny King got ahead of Charles Wright and held the Bears number 1 behind him, and Zack Cook led Adam Roynon for the 2-4 advantage for the Pirates. Jordan Jenkins and Jason Edwards could do nothing about Drew Kemp in Heat 2, resulting in a shared heat, but in race three, the pirates took control. Ben Cook touched the tapes resulting in Drew Kemp replacing him. Kemp then rounded the pack on the opening lap, with Stevie Worrall joining him, securing a visiting 1-5. Richard Lawson maintained the Pirates' strong start, getting the better of Lewis Kerr, who was followed home by Jason Edwards for a 3-3.

Erik Riss won Heat 5, but Kasper Andersen couldn't get amongst the points. Eric Riss was thrown into Heat 6 as a tact sub with Charles Wright, but Richard Lawson got the better of them both, despite a stern challenge from Wright. Redcar battled hard but couldn't pick up heat advantages due to the strong Pirates heat leaders. Heats 7, 8 and 9 resulted in 3-3s. Heat 10, the Bears looked like they'd cracked it, Charles Wright gated, and Stevie Worrall couldn't get across. Ben Cook beat Adam Roynon, but it was a home heat advantage! Lewis Kerr smoked Danny King in Heat 11, but again, Jordan Jenkins didn't score, and the points were shared. Heat 12, the killer blow came. Eric Riss made the start but Stevie Worrall got around him on bend 3. Drew Kemp then passed the German to join his teammate for a big 1-5.

Wright and Kerr pulled a 4-2 out of the bag in Heat 13 to give the home fans hope, but Poole put the result beyond doubt in Heat 14 when Ben Cook and Drew Kemp got ahead of Kasper Andersen for a 1-5. Charles Wright won Heat 15, but the Pirates packed the positions to give the visitors a comprehensive 10-point victory.

A strong Poole team had well beaten the Bears, but the score didn't reflect how close the Bears kept it. Although the Poole top three all scored well, they weren't untouchable and dropped a fair few points towards the end. The match winners for Poole were the Cook brothers and the talented British Under 21 star, Drew Kemp. The Pirates got three 5-1's on the night, and Drew Kemp was involved in all of them, an accomplished performance from the youngster. Drew's an easy choice as my man of the night.

Post-match, I sat on the terrace to record my thoughts on the evening's events and reflect on the current sports issues. One thing you quickly notice is how many people are still at the track, working away raking the dirt, cleaning up equipment, and putting away fence motors. When my brother and I were track staff at Lakeside, we would often be there until midnight, putting the air fence away. I would guess most people doing the track work aren't compensated for their efforts and are happy to get free admission for their troubles. The track staff personifies perfectly what speedway relies on to survive, the sense of community, sheer love of the sport, and willingness to go the extra mile for their club. If I took anything away from my experience at Redcar, it was the community around the club that strived forward with solid promoters. I really wish Redcar was closer as I would love to go more often!

After the main match, the northern junior league youngsters had a spin. Seeing as I was staying overnight, I thought I would stop and watch. The first few races were carnage, with big pile-ups on the first and second bends. But once they sorted themselves out, the riders got the laps they needed. Whilst this was happening, the bar was filling with Redcar fans ready for the post-match interviews. It's great because 1 or 2 riders always stay behind to be interviewed by Roy Clarke, laying out their thoughts on the match and the battle plan for future fixtures.

I said my goodbye's to the friendly local folk and made my way back to the hotel. If you haven't been to Redcar before, I strongly suggest you do. It's easily one of my favourite tracks in the country. You can get a superb view on the backstraight, the racing is always close, and every inch of the track is usable by the riders to duck and dive past each other. I heard good things about the track before I arrived, but I didn't appreciate just how good it was. There are some fantastic tracks in this country. Belle Vue, Peterborough, Glasgow. Redcar is undoubtedly up there with the best of them.

My journey home was against a beautiful sunny backdrop and with no wind in sight. Happy days! I left nice and early and got home in time for lunch with Eloise and the kids. Tomorrow we'd be journeying up the A11 to another of my local tracks, West Row Stadium, home of the Mildenhall Fen Tigers.

Thank you to Colin Poole and the Redcar promotion for your hospitality, it was a fantastic experience and I look forward to returning!

Parking
Plenty of parking and no charges to worry about, very good.

Admission
£18 for Adults, £16 for Concessions and Students, Children under 16 go for £1.

Programme
£3 for the programme. Another good effort and plenty to read, worth picking up.

Viewing Facilities
The grand stand is great as it offers a good view of the track and you can see the pits clearly, however, it comes with an additonal cost of £1 per person. There's plent of raised terracing along the homestraight into the first bend and another small stand on the second bend. I would highly recommend you check out the backstraight, it's above the track and close, giving you that sense of speed and a good view. The pits are open and facing the track so you can see them from most vantage points. Super place to watch speedway.

Catering
The club has some portacabins on the first bend with a bar and food outlet. There's also an over the counter option behind the grandstand. I grabbed some chips for myself and they were tasty (Note, don't walk round the bends of a speedway track during a race with an open plate of chips, unless you want to season your food with shale)

Escaping!
The Car Park filters onto the end of an industrial estate road so I can't imagine the traffic is to bad, I couldn't say though because I left long after the crowd filtered out! 

Fancy checking out South Tees Motorsport Park, I strongly suggest you pay a visit to Redcar Speedway and see the Bears in action for yourself!
 
Check out Redcar's website for the latest fixture and news, the Bear's regular race night is Friday night. Perfect, you can let the kids sleep in saturday!

http://www.redcar-speedway.com/

2022 UK TOUR STATS

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Mildenhall Fen Tigers on Sunday 15th May 2022 - Blog Coming Soon