Redcar Bears v Edinburgh Monarchs

We were never in the hunt for any kind of result at Redcar, though we did do enough to provide some decent racing along the way.

Kevin Wolbert was magnificent, and there was excitement from Kalle Katajisto plus to a certain extent Andrew Tully and Kyle Howarth.

The home team were a great deal more solid and soon took command of the match, with their reserves well to the fore.

Ty Proctor was a strong guest for Jason Lyons and raced off with heat one, while Wolbert recovered from a sluggish start to pass Juul for second.

The home reserves took a very easy 5-1 from heat two, but we had a pleasant surprise in heat three. Kalle was rider replacement and rode a brilliant race, using all the track to eventually sweep round Havelock for the win. Havelock's late swerve to block Kalle could have caused a nasty incident but Kalle avoided it.

Which Craig Cook would we see? He was in the hunt early in heat 4 but faded to concede a disappointing 5-1.

Wolbert raced away in heat 5 and again we had a close battle between Havelock and Katajisto with this time the home man just getting second place.

Heat 6 was a disappointing 1-5, then Andrew Tully managed a second place in heat 7, the first point dropped by Branford.

We used our first TR in heat 8 - Kalle. He gated badly and in spite of a great effort, passing Summers at one point, he could not improve on third place by the end.

Craig had his best ride in heat 9, won surprisingly by Juul, but ahead of Havelock.

With just one point so far Kyle had not had a great match, but he popped out of the gate to lead heat 10. It took Proctor a couple of laps to pass, and he held on to second ahead of Havelock.

Kevin took the second TR in heat 11 and won easily, while Kalle and Aaron Summrs passed and repassed before Summers took second.

That made our score a bit more respectable and Andrew then managed his first win in heat 12.

Heat 13 looked interesting but the problem for the speedy Wolbert was that he was on gate one. It was the poorest grid and Kevin trailed Summrs and Proctor. He caught and passed Ty and let Aaaron know he was around as well.

Andrew won heat 14 in which Howarth took exception to Havelock's riding but eventually got the point anyway when Havvy packed up.

Off gate four in heat 15 there was no way anyone could stop Wolbert, but an engine blowup did stop Andrew unfortunately.

Not our best display but then not our worst either.