Berwick Bandits' Dayle Wood breaks his wrist after team-mate clips his bike
Berwick Bandits have been rocked by an injury blow – despite not racing this week.
Reserve Dayle Wood faces time on the sidelines after crashing heavily on Sunday and suffering a broken wrist.
The 30-year-old, who only took up speedway four years ago, has become a fan favourite for his never-say-die attitude to racing since joining the Bandits during the winter, scoring good points at the bottom end of the team.
But he has also been involved in a number of crashes, his enthusiasm often getting the better of him as he battles for every available point.
However, Wood was the unwitting victim of the incident at Oxford, Mickie Simpson falling at the front and clipping his Edinburgh Academy team-mate’s bike.
Although able to walk away from the crash, Wood’s afternoon was over.
The Bandits are without a meeting again this weekend – their next meetings are away (June 6) and home (June 7) against Scunthorpe Scorpions.
If Wood is sidelined the Bandits’ management will either need to find a short-term replacement or employ guests as their championship campaign gathers momentum.
A decision was also due this week on whether to retain Wood’s fellow reserve Jack Smith as his 28-day contract ran out on Wednesday.
Smith has called some useful points since signing the temporary contract as Berwick moved to cover the lack of fitness of Bastian Borke following major knee surgery over the winter.
Borke has been posting training sessions in Europe on his social media platforms, but has yet to take part in any competitive fixtures to test his fitness.
Another Bandit in action over the weekend was Sam Hagon but, despite a strong set of closing rides, he could not progress from the SGP2 qualifier at Pardubice.
In the end the newly-crowned British under-21 champion finished seventh.
After a couple of third places in his opening rides, Hagon sprang to life when he beat Slovenian Anze Grmek – one of four riders to qualify for the three-round Grand Prix series – before two second places to eventual runner-up Wiktor Pryzjemski and Norwegian Mathias Pollestad, who won the meeting with a 15-point maximum.
Elsewhere Drew Kemp played a starring role for his Premiership club Leicester with nine points as the Lions recorded a surprise win at early pacesetters Ipswich.
Berwick team-mate Peter Kildemand was also in action last week, scoring eight points for Oxford Spires only to see his side lose a Super Heat.
That win took Sheffield, for whom Berwick-born Leon Flint scored six, to the top of the Premiership, leap-frogging Ipswich in the process.