REDCAR CUBS have signed highly rated Manchester based 17-year old Ben Hopwood from fellow Conference League rivals Plymouth. Hopwood was runner-up to Joe Haines in the British U15 Championship at Redcar in 2006 and has been chased by the Cubs management for two years. He rode for Oxford last year and then joined Plymouth at the start of the season. He once rode for the Cleveland Bays in a challenge match at Scunthorpe in 2006 but wasn’t guaranteed a regular team place in Devon, which caused him to begin looking elsewhere.
The key to his arrival on Teesside has come through sponsorship. Three companies have offered to back him: Simpson Racing UK Fuels and Lubricants of Darlington, The Cleveland Hotel in Redcar and North East Bearings and Transmission of Middlesbrough have all come forward to support his move to Redcar. The club’s marketing and community officer, Steve Harland, said: “We are excited that Ben has agreed to join us and are grateful to team manager Jason Pipe who acted with great alacrity to the situation and also the three local companies that came forward to sponsor him after they shared our enthusiasm in bringing him to the club. We believe he is a rider who has a great future in the sport”.
Hopwood will make his Cubs debut against Buxton on Sunday (3pm) when the team travel to Derbyshire looking to complete their first away victory of the season. The signing could not have been more timely following the dislocated shoulder experienced by David Wallinger and the shock retirement of Guy Kendrew. There are doubts about Aaron Summers who was injured riding in Poland recently and Scott James who has aggravated an old leg injury but both are expected to appear. New Zealander Jade Mudgway has also received crucial financial backing from a sponsor back home in his native country and two private individuals who have helped towards the costs of having an engine serviced.
BUXTON: Probable Line-Up: 1 Scott James; 2 Steve Jones; 3 Gary Beaton; 4 Jade Mudgway; 5 Aaron Summers; 6 Martin Emerson; 7 Ben Hopwood.
IT’S almost a year to the day almost but Jedburgh teenager Greg Blair is all set to make his return to the Cubs team in time for their forthcoming home match against Rye House Cobras on Saturday, July 26. Blair broke his elbow in an alarming high speed crash which saw him catapulted into the crowd against Scunthorpe last July. He had up until that point showed tremendous promise making an impressive Premier League debut for the Redcar Bears against Berwick. He then appeared in March 2008 as a guest riding in the Premier League for Berwick in back-to-back meetings having the misfortune to break his leg at Glasgow.
NEXT week’s Premier League action sees a Yorkshire derby under the old boundary system between Redcar Bears and the Sheffield Tigers taking place on FRIDAY at 7.30pm. The South Yorkshire outfit share the same race night as the Bears and have seniority so the Bears will be at Owlerton on Thursday and the return at South Tees Motorsport Park 24 hours later.
"Courtesy Steve Harland/Redcar Speedway"
