MIDDLESBROUGH Bears clinched a thrilling last heat victory at Glasgow's Saracen Park against the Ashfield Giants on Sunday evening in front of an appreciative crowd.

Mike Pickering and Phil Downes were the Bears heroes as they held their nerve and raced to a 4-2 heat advantage over Kriss Irving and Colin McDonald.

The match was the closest the Scott Bros Bears have featured in this season with only two points seperating the teams until the final heat. This gave each heat an 'edge' and there were several races where the riders were so close together you could have thrown a blanket over them.

16-year-old Berwick youngster John Morrison rode the meeting of his life winning two races and finishing second in his third ride to share the distinction with Pickering of finishing top scorer. It was an eventful night for Pickering, who had never seen the Glasgow track before, he was simply awesome and featured in some of the night's best racing. In his first ride Giants' Gary Beaton fought a wheel-to-wheel battle for four full throttle laps. At one point Pickering found some extra drive round the outside of the third and fourth bends of lap three and this propelled him past Beaton but the Giants' rider rode an aggressive inside line to block Pickering as they exited the second bend of the final lap. Pickering didn't have to wait long until he got his revenge though, in his next ride he was up against Beaton again. This time he managed to put distance between himself and his opponent recording an extremely fast time that wouldn't have looked out of place in the main match. To cap it all he won his last race and together with Phil Downes he paved the way for the Bears fourth victory in a row.

Morrison was a revelation and with a bit more luck the son of former Middlesbrough rider Kenny McKinna, Adam, could have had a couple more points. The Bears management were delighted with the team's performance. Jason Pipe, the Bears team co-ordinator, said:"It was probably our hardest match of the season but we showed lots of character when we needed it. Mike Pickering and John Morrison led from the front and both Adam McKinna and Phil Downes contributed at vital times."

The Bears have now won five of their six matches raced this season.

Middlesbrough Bears 20: Mike Pickering & John Morrison 8, Adam McKinna 3, Phil Downes 1.

Ashfield Giants 16: Gary Beaton 8, Kriss Irving 6, James McBain 2, Colin McDonald 0

The return encounter takes place at Hull on Wednesday, July 21 (9pm). They also have another trip to Glasgow against Edinburgh's West Lothian Wildcats on Sunday, July 25 (3pm) immediately following the Glasgow Tigers/Reading Racers Premeir League match. Sadly the match arranged for Berwick on Saturday, July 24, has had to be postponed because the Bandits are now racing a 'double header' against Reading and Hull.

HULL-based Mike Pickering put his excellent performance down to the fact that he is now racing regularly with the Newcastle Gems in the Conference League. He had never seen the Glasgow track before and the tight, tricky banked circuit at Possilpark is completely different to Mike's home track at Hull.