Reading went down by 12 points at Redcar to leave their Young Shield quarter-final tie finely poised ahead of the return leg at Smallmead Stadium.

Ulrich Ostergaard topped the Racers' scoring with 15 points, while skipper Mark Lemon tallied 10. The top two were backed by solid performances from Chris Mills and guest Klaus Jakobsen, who accrued 6+3 and 6+2 points, respectively.

Lemon opened proceedings in fine style, romping to victory after a jet-propelled start. Behind, the home duo of Gary Havelock and Josh Auty were able to split the points ahead of Jakobsen.

After finishing last on a rider replacement outing in the opened heat, Jakobsen quickly made amends by winning the reserves' race. Meanwhile, new Conference League Riders' Champion Benji Compton squeezed past Danny Warwick for second place but, with no further positional changes, the Racers collected a 4-2 to open up an early advantage.

Heat three required a re-run after both Chris Kerr and James Grieves had hit the deck in a robust first corner. At the second attempt, Kerr produced a brilliant ride to hold off the constantly challenging Ostergaard, while Grieves' third place levelled the score at 9 points apiece.

Such has been Ostergaard's sheer brilliance this season that his second place finish took his tally of points for Reading this season beyond 500 (including bonus) from all official matches.

The Bears moved ahead in heat four courtesy of maximum points from the Aussie pairing of Ty Proctor and Arlo Bugeja – the latter forging an early route past both Tom P. Madsen and Warwick to link with his team-mate.

Lemon posted his second successive win in heat five but, with Kerr and Grieves filling the minor scoring positions, Redcar maintained their 4-point advantage.

Havelock took the flag in the next heat and he was joined by Auty on a 5-1 after the youngster's race-long persistence finally paid off, when he just edged ahead of Jakobsen on the line.

A rare occurrence in heat seven saw Ostergaard passed by Proctor, with the Aussie charging on to secure a super win from the Dane, while Mills held third spot throughout.

Ostergaard was out again in heat eight as a tactical substitute. However, after reeling in and passing Bugeja, it was clear he wouldn't be able to catch the flying Auty and the Racers had to settle for a 5-3, with Jakobsen slowing near the finish to allow his fellow countryman through for double points.

Grieves and Kerr were able to collect a comfortable 5-1 in heat nine, only for Ostergaard and Mills to immediately respond with maximum points for the Racers ahead of the pressing Auty, with Havelock somewhat surprisingly at the rear.

Proctor completed a hat-trick of victories in heat eleven, in the process becoming the first rider to lower the colours of Lemon. Meanwhile, Mills finished third to keep Reading within 6 points of the homesters.

That gap remained constant in re-run heat twelve, when grieves triumphed ahead of Ostergaard and Jakobsen.

Proctor continued on his merry way to win heat thirteen from Lemon, with Havelock a mighty close third as they swept past the finish.

The Bears extended their lead to 10 points in the penultimate heat, as Kerr defeated the resurgent Mills, with Kerr nicking third place on the run to the line.

Proctor just shaded the nominated race from Ostergaard to complete an outstanding 15-point maximum, while Grieves' third spot extended his side's victory margin to a round dozen points.

REDCAR
Gary Havelock (C) 2 3 0 1 - - - 6
Josh Auty 1* 2* 3 1 - - - 7 (2)
James Grieves 1 1* 3 3 1 - - 9 (1)
Chris Kerr 3 2 2* 1 - - - 8 (1)
Ty Proctor 3 3 3 3 3 - - 15
Benji Compton 2 0 0 3 - - - 5
Arlo Bugeja 0 2* 0 0 - - - 2 (1)

READING
Mark Lemon (C) 3 3 2 2 0 - - 10
Tomas Suchanek R/R
Ulrich Ostergaard 2 2 4 3 2 2 - 15
Chris Mills 0 1* 2* 1* 2 - - 6 (3)
Tom P. Madsen 1 0 1 0 - - - 2
Klaus Jakobsen 0 3 1 1* 1* 0 - 6 (2)
Danny Warwick 1 0 0 0 - - - 1