Same again please - that’s the orders Redcar Bears have been given ahead of their long trek to Plymouth tonight
Same again please - that’s the orders Redcar Bears have been given ahead of their long trek to Plymouth tonight.
The Devils’ tight St Boniface Arena track provided one of the Ecco Finishing Bears’ highlights of 2013, with Aaron Summers romping to a 15-point maximum in a stunning 50-42 Premier League victory.
Now they’ll be aiming for more of the same in this evening’s KO Cup first round, first leg clash in the West Country (7.15pm start).
Finnish star Kalle Katajisto has given Plymouth a real sting in the tail so far this term and is likely to be their key man, but Bears team manager Jitendra Duffill believes they can counter that threat with their own flying reserve, Jan Graversen.
“Plymouth have been a bit up and down this season,” noted Duffill, whose side reached the cup semi-finals last season.
“They’ve given one or two below par performances so we have to look at that and see if we can take advantage.
“They seem to be relying a lot on Kalle Katajisto at reserve.
“He’s been in excellent form and he’s been rattling up double figure scores regularly.
“They’ve obviously got a powerful No 1 in Ben Barker, but Katajisto is their dangerman so we’ll have to keep him in check.
“But we have our own in-form reserve in Jan Graversen who has been been going really well fo us.
“He’s probably been our most consistent rider this season. He’s been producing some good scores and that’s putting pressure on the top five to perform.
“If he’s going well, neither I nor Brian Havelock would have any hesitation in giving him an extra ride, and no-one wants to be pulled out of one of their rides.
“We had a good win there in the league last season so hopefully we can repeat that this evening.”
Because it’s a Friday evening, No 1 Richard Lawson will be missing as he’s in action for his Elite League parent club, Lakeside Hammers, who get first call on him when there is a clash of fixtures.
Glasgow’s Theo Pijper is the guest replacement.
Although Lawson’s average is 8.28, he’s been scoring far higher than that and, as Duffill acknowledges, he is a hard act to replace.
“You just can’t get a guest to do what Richard has been doing,” he admitted.
“It means we need contributions from everyone - we can’t afford to carry anyone.”
Plymouth could be without Kyle Newman, who is still recovering from a torn thigh muscle following his crash at Peterborough last Tuesday, and pulled out of last night’s British Semi-final at Sheffield.
“Kyle is having special physiotherapy treatment on the injury but if he is not ready in time we will use the rider replacement facility to cover his absence,” said Devils co-promoter Ashley Taylor.
DEVILS: Ben Barker, Roland Benko, Rasmus Jensen, Kalle Katajisto, Kyle Newman (R/R if unfit), Ben Reade, Sam Simota.
BEARS: Luke Crang, Jan Graversen, Rafal Konopka, Theo Pijper, Hugh Skidmore, Aaron Summers, Carl Wilkinson.
For a report and reaction from last night’s Bears v Glasgow Premier League match, log on and visit <a href = 'http://ift.tt/1md60Qe'>http://ift.tt/1k2TrcJ;
Read Martin Neal’s blog - speedwayblog.gazettelive.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment