Berwick Bandits shrug off loss of two riders to beat Redcar Bears
Speedway roared back to Shielfield Park after a five week absence as Berwick Bandits beat highly-rated Redcar without their top two riders.
They already knew that Peter Kildemand would miss the visit of the Bears with a knee injury, but number one Craig Cook withdrew on matchday suffering from covid.
His late withdrawal made finding a guest impossible but in the Cumbrian’s absence the other five full-time Bandits and guest Kyle Howarth stepped up to the plate.
A bruising encounter saw Redcar’s Danny King crash out with a wrist injury and, led by Drew Kemp and Howarth, Berwick took full advantage despite trailing by six pointes after just two heats.
Kemp has become a huge fans’ favourite thanks to his sweeping passes around the boards and, after a first ride engine failure, he rattled off four race wins including a pair of 5-1s with skipper Danyon Hume as Berwick turned the meeting on its head.
With Howarth unbeaten in his opening three races, including a thrilling ride to pass German GP star Erik Riss on the run to the line, and Sam Hagon weighing in with a win in heat eight and then a great ride to catch Simon Lambert on the run to the line.
Reserve Jack Smith had a bruising night, crashing heavily with visiting reserve Jody Scott, but picked himself out of the safety fence to cling on to three third places, vital points in such a tight encounter.
Howarth led the way with 14 points, one more than Kemp, with Hume, nine, and Hagon, seven, giving good support.
Team manager Stewart Dickson had called the match a ‘must-win’ and was delighted with the attitude of his riders.
“It was a tough, bruising night of Championship action, a big night for us,” he said.
“We wanted to win, there are a lot of teams beating each other at the moment and some strange results, so we just need to keep winning our home matches and the rest will take care of itself.”
Workington, who won their opening league fixture of the season against Plymouth last week, are Saturday’s visitors to Shielfield, 7pm, with former Bandit and Berwick resident Jye Etheridge heading a side which includes former GP man Troy Batchelor, who scored a paid maximum last time Workington visited.