Rising Polish star Rafal Konopka has been urged to stay focused as he looks to make his mark in the Premier League
Rising Polish star Rafal Konopka has been urged to stay focused as he looks to make his mark in the Premier League.
Konopka was initially signed by Redcar Bears as a short term replacement for the suspended Richard Hall but was kept on after some impressive displays.
But he has had several falls since then while dicing for positions, possibly the result of simply trying too hard.
He went down twice while in points-scoring positions in the Ecco Finishing Bears’ 49-40 Tees Tweed Trophy win over Berwick on Thursday.
The first of those was while on course for a 5-1 with team-mate Carl Wilkinson.
“I think he needs to calm down a little bit,” said team manager Jitendra Duffill.
“He’s trying a little bit too hard - there’s no fault with a rider trying and wanting to pass people ahead of him but he hasn’t quite got the experience yet.
“He is costing us points at the moment and a third place is better than a fall.
“Sometimes I think he needs to just reel it in a little bit, use his head a bit more and make sure he finishes the race because if he lands on his backside it’s not going to do his confidence or his bikes any good.”
The Bears’ win over Berwick was not enough to claw back a 20-point gap from the first leg and the trophy went north.
Carl Wilkinson (12) and Jan Graversen (11+1) led the scorers, the latter winning three races and again demonstrating what an excellent signing he was.
And Duffill was encouraged, saying: “We were six points down early on so it wasn’t looking good then.
“But on the night we won by nine which, had it been a league meeting, would have given us all three points.
“It was always going to be a mountain to climb to pull back that sort of deficit but it was still a good performance.
“The top four and Jan Graversen did a good job.”
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