Redcar Bears

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British motorcycle speedway team

title: "Redcar Bears" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["speedway-premier-league-teams", "sgb-championship-teams", "sport-in-middlesbrough", "redcar", "sports-clubs-and-teams-established-in-1994", "1994-establishments-in-england"] description: "British motorcycle speedway team" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redcar_Bears" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British motorcycle speedway team ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox motorcycle speedway team"]

Field	Value
clubname	Redcar Bears
image	[[File:Redcarbearslogo.jpg
track	Ecco Arena
Dormor Way
Southbank Road
Middlesbrough
TS6 6XH
country	England
founded	2006
promoter	Jade Mudgway & Jamie Swales
manager	Gavin Parr
captain	Charles Wright
league	SGB Championship
National Development League
website
colours	Red, White, Black and Grey
tracksize	271 m
track record time	52.2 seconds
track record date	28 October 2022, Teesside Silver Pan
track record holder	Lewis Kerr
rider1	ENG Charles Wright (capt)
rider2	ENG Jason Edwards
rider3	ENG Jordan Jenkins
rider4	SCO Ace Pijper
rider5	AUS Jake Allen
rider6	ENG Jake Mulford
rider7	ENG Jody Scott
rider1j
rider2j
rider3j
rider4j
rider5j
rider6j
rider7j
honour1	SGB Championship KO Cup
year1	2019
honour2	Young Shield Winners
year2	2007
honour3	Pairs
year3	2022, 2024, 2025
honour4	BSN Series
year4	2025
::

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).

History

Origins and 2000s

Speedway 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.

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) and entered the 2006 Premier League speedway season, the Premier League was division 2 at the time. The Bears raced their first home fixture on 13 April 2006 against Sheffield Tigers and finished the season in a solid sixth place.

In 2007, the Bears won the Premier League consolation tournament known as the Young Shield, beating the Birmingham Brummies.

2010s

From 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.

In 2019, Jitendra Duffill became co-promoter replacing Kevin Keay, with Jade Mudgway continuing as the team manager and co-promoter. Gary Havelock also re-joined the club as the rider's coach. 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. During the 2019 season, the Bears long-awaited search for major silverware ended when they beat Newcastle Diamonds in the Championship Knockout Cup final. Additionally Bears' rider Charles Wright became the 2019 British Speedway Champion after winning the final at the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester and Erik Riss won his first Championship Riders' title at Sheffield.

2020s

For the 2020 season the Bears retained five of the previous years team but the season was cancelled due to the COVID-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.

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. Also in August, Katie Gordon who rode for the Redcar Cubs, won the inaugural NORA Women's British Championship. The following year in 2023, Charles Wright won the Riders' Championship at the Ecco Arena.

In 2024, the Bears won the Pairs Championship with Charles Wright and Danny King and the following season repeated the success, with Wright and Erik Riss.

Season summary

::data[format=table]

Year and league	Position	Notes
2006 Premier League speedway season	6th
2007 Premier League speedway season	9th	Young Shield
2008 Premier League speedway season	7th
2008 Speedway Conference League	3rd	Redcar Cubs
2009 Premier League speedway season	5th
2010 Premier League speedway season	14th
2011 Premier League speedway season	10th
2012 Premier League speedway season	9th
2013 Premier League speedway season	6th
2014 Premier League speedway season	10th
2015 Premier League speedway season	13th
2016 Premier League speedway season	13th
SGB Championship 2017	5th
SGB Championship 2018	10th
SGB Championship 2019	3rd	Play offs
SGB Championship 2021	4th
SGB Championship 2022	6th	Play offs, pairs winners
SGB Championship 2023	5th	Play offs
SGB Championship 2024	6th	Pairs winners
SGB Championship 2025	3rd	Pairs winners
::

Season summary (junior team)

::data[format=table]

Year and league	Position	Notes
2024 National Development League speedway season	6th	Middlesbrough Tigers
2025 National Development League and National Trophy speedway season	tbc	Middlesbrough Tigers
::

Notable riders

Previous seasons

2006 Team

2007 Team

Also Rode:

2008 Team

Also Rode:

2009 Team

2010 Team=

2011 Team

2012 Team

- - No.3 was previously Gary Havelock but Wilkinson signed due to Havelock's injury.
- Replaced Robert Branford

2013 Team

2014 Team

Also Rode:

2015 Team

Also Rode:

2016 Team

Also Rode:

2017 Team

Also Rode:

Coty Garcia Replaced Tobias Busch on a 28-day loan period.
Richard Hall Replaced by Danny Ayres 17 May 2017.

2017 Competitions & Results

2018 Team

Also rode:

- Replaced 31 May 2018 by Thomas Jørgensen
- Replaced 3 June 2018 by Dimitri Bergé
- On a 28-day contract replacing Tobias Busch 3 June 2018 – 5 July 2018
- Replaced 9 August 2018 by Nike Lunna

Jade Mudgway deputised for Team Manager Jitendra Duffill.

2018 Competitions & Results

2019 Team

Also Rode:

Ben Barker replaced 4/6/19 by Ulrich Ostergaard
Ulrich Ostergaard replaced by Erik Riss 3/7/19
Tom Bacon replaced by Kasper Andersen 3/7/19
Jack Smith replaced by Tom Woolley 3/7/19

3 July 2019 changes

2019 Competitions & Results

2020 Team

2021 Team

2022 Team

Also Rode:

Adam Roynon Replaced by Kyle Bickley 4/7/22.
Kyle Bickley Replaced by Kyle Newman 11/8/22.

References

"Club Info".
(19 September 1996). "Tee-d off". Western Evening Herald.
"Speedway fans flock to the region as new track opens".
"BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - MODERN ERA (1991-PRESENT)".
"2006 fixtures".
Neal, Martin. (29 October 2007). "Shield-winning Redcar Bears now go for double".
(4 August 2022). "Bears win an award!".
(5 September 2018). "New Promoter for Bears".
(20 June 2017). "Duffill steps up".
(15 January 2020). "Mudgway and Terry the Track return".
http://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/966103820?-17473:2778:most_read_top#out {{dead link. (June 2019)
(3 March 2017). "BEARS MOVE TO FRIDAYS - British Speedway Official Website".
(26 April 2018). "Agilia Infrastructure Partners Ltd the Bears main backers in 2019!".
(14 September 2017). "Bears through to KO Cup Final!".
"Wright crowned British champion - British Speedway Official Website".
(11 September 2019). "Erik Riss wins Championship Riders title!".
"Riss makes Redcar history - Speedway Star : Weekly Speedway Magazine and Xtra".
(17 May 2018). "Bears complete side!".
"OFFICIAL STATEMENT - British Speedway Official Website".
(4 June 2021). "Welcome to the ECCO Arena!".
(13 August 2022). "Bears Are Pairs Champions".
(17 August 2022). "The teenage champion on a mission to get more women into Speedway".
"Charles Wright's thrilling battle to be champion".
"Charles Wright helps Redcar Bears pull off incredible comeback".
(7 April 2025). "Redcar Bears scoop Championship Pairs title".
"BRITISH SPEEDWAY UPDATE - British Speedway Official Website".
(4 August 2019). "Bears make team change".
(27 May 2017). "Team news update".
(22 October 2020). "Bears release Kus".
(20 August 2023). "Bears bring in two".
(17 August 2017). "Bears swoop for Lunna".
(11 September 2019). "Duffill steps down as team boss for now".
(29 June 2017). "Bears release Barker".
McGhie, Keith. (4 June 2019). "Redcar Bears bring in Danish star to replace former skipper".
(7 July 2023). "Bears make three changes".
(14 February 2019). "Bickley's a Bear".
(15 February 2019). "Newman for the Bears".

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