MIDDLESBROUGH Bears continued their recent good form with a 23-13pts defeat of Hull Magic in a Humber League fixture at Hull's Craven Park Stadium.

The Bears fresh from a successful away trip to Berwick took command from the beginning with John Branney and Gary Flint both going through the six heat meeting unbeaten by an opposing rider. Branney set the the fastest time by a junior this season in Heat 1 (70.5) and was simply outstanding. Flint backed his teammate up with some superb manouevres and it was no surprise that the Bears won every heat contested. Scott Nettleship had his best meeting of the season after making a poor start, but by his third ride was putting distance between himself and the opposing riders. Mike Pickering picked up a paid win in his only ride of the evening before bike problems caused his premature withdrawal from the meeting. Mike Godfrey, a 16-year old trainee from Scunthorpe, was given two rides in his place.

The Bears next match takes place at Hull against top of the table Scunthorpe Scorpions on September 3 who have yet to taste defeat this season.

Henry Atkinson, team manager, said: "Nothing would give us greater pleasure than to beat Scunthorpe and delay their inevitable opportunity to become Humber League champions.

"We intend to track our strongest team for this particular fixture with both John Branney and Gary Flint spearheading our attack."

The Bears match against the recently reformed Crewe Kings has been cancelled because the British Speedway Promoters' Association have only given the Cheshire club permission to race a series of fixtures against Buxton as attempts are made to bring speedway back to a town that last saw league speedway in 1975. However, the Bears will be travelling to Derbyshire to face a youthful Buxton Hitmen side in a six heat four man youth development challenge on Sunday, September 14.

The Bears'Kendal-based Jonathan Bethell has made a complete recovery from a recently sustained dislocated shoulder and made an impressive comeback with his parent club Conference League Buxton. Bethell will be available for all the Bears September fixtures except Glasgow when his commitments with Buxton take over.

The club's trip to Scotland will take in meetings against Edinburgh (at Armadale) and Glasgow (at Ashfield) on W/E 19 September.

The team are hoping local rivals Newcastle can overcome a fixture backlog to race a youth development challenge against the Bears. The original staging was postponed back in July because of a waterlogged track.