Workington Comets are out of the KO Cup after a disappointing 50-40 home defeat this afternoon to Redcar Bears.
The Comets did the double over the Bears in the BSN Series but Redcar have responded with a double of their own to reach the semi-finals of the Knock Out competition.
Workington had gone into the meeting trying to overturn a 13-point deficit from the first leg and never looked like overturning that against a determined Redcar side.
They only managed four heat advantages in the whole meeting which was nowhere near what they needed and Redcar were always in control.
Jason Edwards (14) and guest Erik Riss (13) were the main contributors to the Redcar total and Charles Wright had a frustrating night which was made of two wins and two lasts – one of them from when he had to go off 15 metres after being out of time at the start.
Workington had to use two guests as well with solid efforts from James Pearson (7) at two and Paul Starke (6) at reserve.
But nobody was in double figures with only five race winners – one each for Craig Cook, Pearson, Tate Zischke, Claus Vissing and Starke.
They just weren’t making enough gates and generally seemed sluggish in comparison to the firing Bears.
Race of the afternoon came in heat six when Cook and Riss were having a real ding dong, neck and neck going into the last turn when Cook came off. Fortunately he was able to walk away and later took his remaining two rides, winning the second of them.
Workington Comets 40: Craig Cook 5; James Pearson 7 + 1; Tatr Zischke 6; Claus Vissing 6 + 2; Troy Batchelor 8; Sam McGurk 2; Paul Starke 6 + 2.
Redcar Bears 50: Charles Wright 6; Jonas Knudsen 2; Connor Bailey 8 + 1; Jason Edwards 14 + 1; Erik Riss 13 + 1; Jake Mulford 6 + 1; Ben Trigger 1 + 1
You can hear team manager James Denham’s comments below:
John Walsh also spoke to former Comet, the Redcar captain Charles Wright:
