Bandits’ fixtures for the 2020 season are confirmed

This will be preceded by the traditional press and practice, which will be held at Shielfield on Saturday, March 28, and will be followed by a ‘meet the riders’ event in the Black & Gold later the same evening.

This year Berwick will again compete in the Championship, which is the second tier of British speedway, and in total they will race 30 league fixtures, twice home and away against fellow northern clubs Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Redcar, and once home and away against Scunthorpe, Leicester, Poole, Birmingham, Eastbourne, Kent and Somerset. They will also contest the KO Cup and have been drawn home and away against Leicester.

It was decided to introduce the new-look league format in a bid to give clubs more meaningful fixtures, particularly at the start of the season, with the Championship Shield no longer being held.

With more fixtures against their local rivals the powers that be are hoping that it will generate more interest amongst fans and lead to bigger attendances..

The full list of fixtures are:

April

Fri 3 v Redcar (a); Sat 4 v Glasgow (h); Sun 5 v Newcastle (a); Sat 11 v Newcastle (h); Fri 17 v Scunthorpe (a); Sat 18 v Scunthorpe (h); We’d 29 v Poole (a).

May

Fri 1 v Glasgow (a); Sat 2 v Redcar (h); Sun 10 v Leicester (a) KOC; Fri 15 v Edinburgh (a); Sat 16 v Edinburgh (h); Sat 23 v Leicester (h) KOC; Sat 30 v Glasgow (h); Sun 31 v Eastbourne (a).

June

We’d 3 v Birmingham (a); Sat 13 v Birmingham (h); Sat 20 v Redcar (h); Saturday 27 v Somerset (h).

July

We’d 1 v Somerset (a); Sat 4 v Kent (h); Sat 11 v Eastbourne (h); Fri 24 v Redcar (a); Sat 25 v Edinburgh (h); Fri 31 v Scunthorpe (a).

August

Sat 1 v Poole (h); Sat 8 v Scunthorpe (h); Sun 9 v Newcastle (a); Fri 14 v Edinburgh (a); Sat 15 v Newcastle (h); We’d 19 v Kent (a); Sat 22 v Leicester (h).

Berwick’s Leon Flint has been confirmed by Newcastle as a rider who will compete for their second team, the Gems, in the National Trophy.