Cup double header for Diamonds
THE weekend North East speedway fans have been waiting for has finally arrived.
It’s the Knockout Cup final between arch-rivals Newcastle BTS Diamonds and Redcar Bears, with the first leg on Teesside tonight and the return on Sunday evening (6.30pm) at Brough Park.
It was back in mid-July that Steve Worrall led the Diamonds into the final after beating Edinburgh Monarchs in the semifinal, having earlier eliminated Berwick Bandits.
But delays in getting the other semi-final between the Bears and Eastbourne Eagles raced off have meant a lengthy wait before the big crunch clash.
Based on positions in the final SGB Championship league table, the Diamonds are undoubtedly the underdogs going into the head-to-head battle.
Newcastle ended up tenth in the 11-strong league, while Redcar qualified for the play-offs by finishing third.
The Bears, in fact, race at Leicester tomorrow night in the second leg of the play-off semifinal, leading by eight points after a 49-41 success over the Lions on Teesside a week ago.
Newcastle co-promoter and team manager George English said: “Whatever happens on Friday, we obviously hope Redcar’s involvement in the league play-offs proves to be a distraction before they come to us on Sunday evening.
“They have managed to book top-line guests for Michael Palm Toft, who was injured at our place last time we had a meeting there on September 15, but we go into the Cup Final without Thomas Jorgensen and, with no suitable guest replacement available, we will share his races out among the rest of the eligible Diamonds.”
Redcar are using Scunthorpe high-flier Jake Allen this evening, and it is understood they will call on Birmingham top man Adam Ellis, who was undefeated in four races at Byker in August when top-scoring for the Brummies.
The Diamonds had hoped to track former favourite Tero Aarnio in place of Jorgensen, as they did last month when they defeated Redcar 49-40 in the league, but the October averages show Aarnio’s figures to be higher than Jorgensen’s so that could not happen.