Bears get the better of the Diamonds; SPEEDWAY.

Redcar Bears ................................53 Newcastle Diamonds ....................37 THERE was nothing at stake bar local pride last night in the final Premier Trophy match of the year at the South Tees Motor Park.

But when it's Newcastle and Redcar involved that's all you need to make a cracking speedway meeting.

However, following the event news broke hat Diamonds' Craig Branney leaving the team forthwith.

The lead was changing hands early on too with Newcastle sneaking into pole position following a Heat Two 1-5 when Adam McKinna and Branney took advantage of an exclusion for returnee veteran Stuart Swales.

Better for Newcastle was to come in the third with another maximum heat win with skipper Jason King and Trent Leverington shooting round the early leader Ben Wilson on lap one to lead 6-12.

The recovered two points for the Bears in the fourth were returned to the Diamonds in the fifth with a 2-4 and a battling win for Kenni Larsen whilst Derek Sneddon held off the wily Carl Stonehewer for four hard laps.

That lead was reduced to two by the blossoming Ty Proctor and Robbie Kessler who left Rene Bach and McKinna well to the rear. A win for Kessler in heat eight over Sneddon with Branney at the back in a 4-2 levelled the match at 24-all.

Wilson overpowered Bach in the ninth, but the young Dane took the scalp of former Grand Prix star Stonehewer for two points as the Bears went into the lead for the first time since heat one by 28-26.

Another 4-2 in the 10th and a brilliant win for Swales over Larsen and Sneddon in Heat 11 left the match poised at 35-31 at the interval time.

McKinna took heat 12 with unexpected ease in a shared 3-3. But a 5-1 in the 13th and 14th, the latter courtesy of that man Swales again and Stonehewer, sealed the win in a superb match for the home side, but a score that flattered the Bears.

Afterwards, Newcastle co-promoter Darryl Illingworth revealed out-ofform Craig Branney would be leaving the side. Coming into the line-up will be the very experienced Australian Mark Lemon.

Illingworth said: "We searched our souls long and hard in letting Craig go tonight, and even though he's tried his level best to make his comeback from injury a success, the struggle has been tougher than expected.

"We came to the decision a change was needed, and when the chance of bringing in a rider of the standard of Mark Lemon, there was no delay in doing deals.

"Mark has enormous experience and is heat-leader material without doubt and knows this game inside out having ridden for several sides in well over a decade in the UK, including Middlesbrough for a while.

"When we approached him he was instantly keen to re-start his 2009 with us having suffered a little inconsistency at Newport, but believes - as we do in him - that the move to Tyneside will be the best thing for both him and us."

REDCAR BEARS: Ty Proctor 15, Robbie Kessler 7+1, Ben Wilson 10+1, Carl Stonehewer 3+1, Gary Havelock (Captain) 6+2, Stuart Swales 8, Arlo Bugeja 4+1. NEWCASTLE "SAPPHIRE ENGINEERING" DIAMONDS: Kenni Larsen 7, Derek Sneddon 6+1, Jason King (Captain) 8, Trent Leverington 3+1, Rene Bach 5, Adam McKinna 6, Craig Branney 2+1.