Berwick Bandits' 'Special K' pair are in action at the Cab Direct Championship Pairs

Lewi Kerr and Drew Kemp travel to Oxford on Friday night for the Cab Direct Championship Pairs in fine form and with both having ridden regularly on the Cowley track this season for the Premiership Spires.

Kerr won the event alongside Charles Wright when he was a Redcar rider in 2022.

He goes in after top-scoring with 13 points as the Bandits ended their underwhelming league campaign with a 38-52 defeat at Workington on Sunday afternoon.

Friday’s partner Kemp goes into the Pairs on the back of a blistering end to the season which has seen him hit double figures in the last four meetings including 12-point hauls on Sunday and the previous night’s 41-49 reverse against the Comets at Shielfield Park.

The Suffolk speedster is the odds-on favourite to sweep the end of season awards’ night and there is a clamour among Bandits fans to get Kemp, who celebrated his 22nd birthday at Northside, signed, sealed and delivered for 2025.

Kemp’s points blitz has been the highlight of an underwhelming season results-wise for the Bandits and he has been winning races in style, recording some of the fastest times ever around the speedy Borders raceway.

Unfortunately, the injury jinx which seems to follow the Bandits around makes them favourites to finish on the bottom of the table as other teams catch up on their outstanding fixtures.

Skipper Rory Schelin’s injury and another season-ending crash for young Dane Bastian Borke have proved tough to overcome.

Speaking after the defeat on Saturday, Berwick team manager Stewart Dickson said: “Workington seemed to want it more than us which was disappointing.

“Four race winners at home tells its own story.”

Talks have begun between Berwick management and a number of targets for next season, but they are likely to play their cards close to their chests until after the late October/early November AGM which will confirm both the make-up of the league and the team building points’ limit for 2025.

There is one final meeting left for Shielfield Park when the up and coming talent of British Speedway’s third tier competes for the NDLRC Series Stars of Tomorrow trophy on September 7.

Each NDL side will nominate two of its riders and there will be four local wildcards in the field chosen by the Berwick promotion.

The event will follow the historical World Championship format of 20 heats, with each rider taking five rides and the winner the one with the most points.

This weekend the attention of speedway fans is on Oxford and then the British Grand Prix the following day at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

Berwick-based and Bandits’ asset Leon Flint will be joining the top 16 riders in the world in front of 30,000 fans after being announced as one of the meeting’s two track reserves.

It is not a new experience for the 22-year-old, who is riding for Glasgow and qualified for the SGP2 series this season, as he filled the same role in 2022, scoring two points from as many rides.