The Redcar Bears are a British motorcycle speedway team who compete in the SGB Championship (second tier of the British speedway leagues). The club was founded in 2006 and their major team honour to date is the SGB Championship Knockout Cup win in 2019. The team have also run a junior side called the Middlesbrough Tigers (which is not to be confused with the former Middlesbrough club).
| Redcar Bears | |||||||||||||||||
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| Track address | Ecco Arena Dormor Way Southbank Road Middlesbrough TS6 6XH | ||||||||||||||||
| Country | England | ||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 2006 | ||||||||||||||||
| Promoter | Jade Mudgway & Jamie Swales | ||||||||||||||||
| Team manager | Gavin Parr | ||||||||||||||||
| League | SGB Championship National Development League | ||||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||||
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| 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 | ||||||||||||||||
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History
editOrigins and 2000s
editSpeedway in Middlesbrough began at the Cleveland Park Stadium and with a Middlesbrough team (later the Bears) that first competed in the 1929 Speedway English Dirt Track League. The racing took place from 1929 until 1996, when the Cleveland Park Stadium was demolished.[2]
It was not until 2006 that speedway returned to Middlesbrough, with a new team name by the name of Redcar Bears, racing at the purpose built South Tees Motorsports Park (a former quad bike practice area). The team were promoted by Chris Van Straaten and Gareth Rogers, managed by Brian Havelock and captained by his son Gary Havelock (the 1992 world champion)[3] and entered the 2006 Premier League speedway season, the Premier League was division 2 at the time.[4] The Bears raced their first home fixture on 13 april 2006 against Sheffield Tigers and finished the season in a solid sixth place.[5]
In 2007, the Bears won the Premier League consolation tournament known as the Young Shield,[6] beating the Birmingham Brummies.
2010s
editFrom 2010 to 2016, the team continued to compete in the Premier League but experienced season of mediocrity. 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.[7]
In 2019, Jitendra Duffill became co-promoter replacing Kevin Keay, with Jade Mudgway continuing as the team manager and co-promoter.[8][9][10] Gary Havelock also re-joined the club as the rider's coach.[11] 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.[12][13] During the 2019 season, the Bears long-awaited search for major silverware ended when they beat Newcastle Diamonds in the Championship Knockout Cup final.[14] Additionally Bears' rider Charles Wright became the 2019 British Speedway Champion after winning the final at the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester[15] and Erik Riss won his first Championship Riders title at Sheffield.[16][17]
2020s
editFor the 2020 season the Bears retained five of the previous years team but the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19.[18][19]
The 2021 season saw the Bears lose their reign as Knockout 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, the South Tees Motorsports Park became the ECCO Arena, after long-time sponsor ECCO Finishing Supplies took up the opportunity to take over the stadium naming rights.[20]
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 12 August.[21] Also in August, Katie Gordon who rode for the Redcar Cubs, won the inaugural NORA Women's British Championship.[22] The following year in 2023, Charles Wright won the Riders' Championship at the Ecco Arena.[23]
In 2024, Charles Wright and Danny King won the Pairs Championship.[24]
Season summary
editExtended content
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Season summary (junior team)
editExtended content
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Notable riders
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Previous seasons
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References
edit- ^ "Club Info".
- ^ "Tee-d off". Western Evening Herald. 19 September 1996. Retrieved 2 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Speedway fans flock to the region as new track opens". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
- ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - MODERN ERA (1991-PRESENT)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ "2006 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
- ^ Neal, Martin (29 October 2007). "Shield-winning Redcar Bears now go for double". Gazettelive.co.uk.
- ^ "Bears win an award!". Redcar-speedway.com. 4 August 2022.
- ^ "New Promoter for Bears". Redcar-speedway.com. 5 September 2018.
- ^ "Duffill steps up". Redcar-speedway.com. 20 June 2017.
- ^ "Mudgway and Terry the Track return". Redcar-speedway.com. 15 January 2020.
- ^ http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/966103820?-17473:2778:most_read_top#out [dead link]
- ^ "BEARS MOVE TO FRIDAYS - British Speedway Official Website". Speedwaygb.co.uk. 3 March 2017.
- ^ "Agilia Infrastructure Partners Ltd the Bears main backers in 2019!". Redcar-speedway.com. 26 April 2018.
- ^ "Bears through to KO Cup Final!". 14 September 2017.
- ^ "Wright crowned British champion - British Speedway Official Website". www.speedwaygb.co.uk.
- ^ "Erik Riss wins Championship Riders title!". 11 September 2019.
- ^ "Riss makes Redcar history - Speedway Star : Weekly Speedway Magazine and Xtra".
- ^ "Bears complete side!". 17 May 2018.
- ^ "OFFICIAL STATEMENT - British Speedway Official Website".
- ^ "Welcome to the ECCO Arena!". 4 June 2021.
- ^ "Bears Are Pairs Champions". 13 August 2022.
- ^ "The teenage champion on a mission to get more women into Speedway". 17 August 2022.
- ^ "Charles Wright's thrilling battle to be champion". Cumbria Crack. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
- ^ "Charles Wright helps Redcar Bears pull off incredible comeback". Cumbria Crack. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
- ^ "BRITISH SPEEDWAY UPDATE - British Speedway Official Website".
- ^ "Bears make team change". Redcar-speedway.com. 4 August 2019.
- ^ "Team news update". Redcar-speedway.com. 27 May 2017.
- ^ "Bears release Kus". Redcar-speedway.com. 22 October 2020.
- ^ a b "Bears bring in two". Redcar-speedway.com. 20 August 2023.
- ^ "Bears swoop for Lunna". Redcar-speedway.com. 17 August 2017.
- ^ "Duffill steps down as team boss for now". Redcar-speedway.com. 11 September 2019.
- ^ "Bears release Barker". Redcar-speedway.com. 29 June 2017.
- ^ McGhie, Keith (4 June 2019). "Redcar Bears bring in Danish star to replace former skipper". Gazettelive.
- ^ "Bears make three changes". 7 July 2023.
- ^ "Bickley's a Bear". 14 February 2019.
- ^ "Newman for the Bears". 15 February 2019.