Battling Gladiators go close

The Plymouth Prow Park Gladiators delivered a much improved performance on the road, despite eventually going down to a 41-48  defeat against the Redcar Bears.

The Gladiators were just four points behind after heat 12, and in heat 13 were on a maximum 5-1 heat advantage until Bears skipper Danny King fell. In the re-run, Richie Worrall suffered a chain failure at the start line, earning a disqualification, and with Charles Wright getting the better of Ben Barker, a 5-1 turned into a 3-2.

A maximum 5-1 to the Bears in the penultimate heat put victory out of the Gladiators grasp, but positives will be taken from a much stronger away performance.   Ben Barker top scored with 13(+1) backed by skipper Kyle Howarth (12) and an impressive debut at reserve for James Pearson with 7. 

Redcar Bears = 48

1. Danny King – 3, 3, 2, FX = 8 

2. Danyon Hume – 2′, 1, 2′, 1′, 0 = 6+3

3. Erik Riss – R, R, R, 3 = 3 

4. Jason Edwards – 1, 2, 1, 3 = 7 

5. Charles Wright – 3, 3, 2, 3, 2 = 13

6. Connor Bailey – 3, 3, 1′, 0, 2′ = 9+2 

7. Connor Coles (G) – 1, 1, F, 

Plymouth Gladiators = 41

1. Kyle Howarth – 1, 3, 3, 2, 3 = 12

2. Ben Morley – 0, 1, 0 = 1 

3. Ben Barker – 3, 2, 3, 3, 1′, 1 = 13+1

4. Dan Gilkes – 2′, 1′, 0, 1 = 4+2 

5. Richie Worrall – 0, 2, 2′, R = 4+1 

6. James Pearson – 2, 2, 0, 1, 2 = 7 

7. Ben Trigger – 0, 0, 0 = 0 

Heat Results

Heat 01: King, Hume, Howarth, Morley…54.0…5-1

Heat 02: Bailey, Pearson, Coles, Trigger…55.5…4-2…9-3

Heat 03: Barker, Gilkes, Edwards, Riss (R)…55.5…1-5…10-8

Heat 04: Wright, Pearson, Coles, Worrall…55.9…4-2…14-10

Heat 05: Howarth, Edwards, Morley, Riss (R)…56.7…2-4…16-14

Heat 06: King, Worrall, Hume, Pearson…56.5…4-2…20-16

Heat 07: Wright, Barker, Gilkes, Coles (F)…56.5…3-3…23-19

Heat 08: Bailey, Hume, Pearson, Trigger…58.3…5-1…28-20

Heat 09: Barker, Worrall, Edwards, Riss (R)…57.4…1-5…29-25

Heat 10: Barker, King, Hume, Gilkes…57.4…3-3…32-28

Heat 11: Howarth, Wright, Bailey, Morley…57.1…3-3…35-31

Heat 12: Riss, Pearson, Barker, Bailey…55.9…3-3…38-34

Heat 13: Wright, Howarth, Worrall (R), King (FX)…57.5…3-2…41-36

Heat 14: Edwards, Bailey, Gilkes, Trigger…58.5…5-1…46-37

Heat 15: Howarth, Wright, Barker, Hume…58.3…2-4..48-41

Courtesy of Speedway Updates

Image Credit: Dan Westlake