Bears fight back to keep hopes of final place alive

REDCAR Bears proved to be stubborn opponents in the first leg of the Championship Play-Off semifinal on Tuesday night, going down by just six points and giving themselves a realistic chance of progressing to the final.

- By PETER BALDWIN

The Pirates established a 15-9 lead after four heats and looked capable of increasing their advantage in the fifth but an unexpected maximum heat win from Charles Wright and Jake Mulford over Pirates’ powerful home pairing of Lewis Kerr and Zach Cook put the Bears back into the meeting.

Two shared heats followed before another Bears’ 5-1 from Ace Pijper and Mulford gave the visitors a two-point lead after heat eight with Pijper recording his second win.

Kerr and Cook restored the home advantage in the ninth, 28-26, and a 4-2 in the 1Ith increased the lead to four points.

But the Bears remained defiant with three further drawn heats before a final heat 4-2 sealed the win to give the Pirates a slender six-point lead to take to Redcar for the second leg.