Cleveland Bays: TONIGHT sees a rare Friday evening of speedway action at South Tees Motorsport Park with the Cleveland Bays taking on the Hull Vikings in a five heat junior challenge immediately after the Redcar/Sheffield Premier League match at 7.30pm.

After a recent quiet spell the Bays face a hectic spell of three meetings in four days with two mini matches against the Sheffield Prowlers last night at Owlerton and at home to Hull tonight, and then a debut performance in the Conference Shield at Scunthorpe to look forward to on Sunday.

Both Redcar and Sheffield have Thursday race nights but the south Yorkshire outfit have senior status so last night both teams were in action at Sheffield's Owlerton Stadium.

The Redcar Bears took on the Sheffield Tigers in a Premier League encounter, immediately followed by the Cleveland Bays racing against the Sheffield Prowlers in a four man six-heat junior match.

The Bays line-up for tonight's meeting is as follows: 1 Karl Langley; 2 Rusty Hodgson; 3 Jitendra Duffill; 4 Martin Emerson.

The Hull line-up has a youthful look as team manager Dave Peet features 15-year olds Greg Blair and Ben Hopwood. The Bays have won their last seven matches against the East Yorkshire outfit and will be looking to extend that run.

THE scheduled Conference Shield fixture planned for Scunthorpe in September has been brought forward and will now take place on Sunday, August 13 at Normanby Road at 3pm. The Bays will include both Redcar Bears reserve riders Dan Giffard and Jack Hargreaves.

The full line-up is as follows: 1 Jack Hargreaves; 2 Rusty Hodgson; 3 Paul Burnett; 4 Karl Langley; 5 Dan Giffard; 6 Maurice Crang; 7 Martin Emerson.

The Scunthorpe match will be the Bays debut performance in the Conference Shield and they couldn't have been given a harder task.

Jack Hargreaves rode there recently for the Bays in a challenge match and top scored with 14pts and will be looking for a repeat performance.

The Scorpions have been thrashing teams away from home including recent victories over Mildenhall and Buxton but Jason Pipe, the Bays team manager pointed out: "Scunthorpe have a settled side from racing together in the Conference League so we are looking at damage limitation. The main focus is on rider development but this entails a three year project."

THE scheduled match for Weymouth on Friday, August 18, has now been replaced by a four team tournament. The Dorset management have offered Friday 22 or 29 as spare dates but they are awaiting official confirmation.

Redcar Bears

THE Redcar Bears speedway club will be staging two community days at the South Tees Motorsport Park on Saturday, August 12 and Sunday August 13 from noon onwards.

With a minimum age of eight years - anybody may enjoy a supervised session on an adapted speedway bike and at no charge. Among those who will provide guidance and support is the former Bears star Martin Dixon.

It is pointed out that a parent or guardian must be in attendance for participants under 18 and that it is essential that telephone bookings be made in advance on the Bears enquiry line 07796 441850. Full medical back-up will be in place on the days.

Former rider Glyn Taylor who is charge of the training schemes at the Motorpark commented: "These are, in a sense, fun sessions for those who fancy the feel of what it is like to slide a speedway bike but who knows we might discover some budding talent!"