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Berwick Bandits v Edinburgh Monarchs
Premier Trophy (Group), 16 April 2005
Shielfield Park, Berwick

Berwick 53
1Adrian Rymel2322*3 ..121
2Adam Pietraszko01302 ..60
4Michal Makovsky332*2. ..101
5Piotr Dym32232* ..121
6Chris Schramm21031* 1*.82
7Joachim Kugelmann1*102*1* ..53
Edinburgh 43
1Daniel Nermark32311 ..100
2Theo Pijper11*1.. ..31
3Rusty Harrison216^30 ..120
4Cameron Woodward0136^. ..100
5Ross Brady221T. ..50
6William LawsonR000R ..00
7Robert Ksiezak30000 ..30

* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).

Berwick realised that they had little chance of the bonus point after their 33 point defeat at Edinburgh last week so were looking mainly for the two points for winning. The Bandits were able to use Rider Replacement for their departed ex-captain Simon Cartwright but otherwise were at full strength as were the Monarchs.

As other teams have found this season Edinburgh are nobody’s pushover these days. They put up strong resistance until later in the match when Berwick took two maximum heat wins in the last three heats to put a better complexion on the score. Edinburgh took the lead in heat one with a 2-4 but at a price. Daniel Nermark and Theo Pijper made good gates with Adrian Rymel pressing. As the riders entered the third bend Pijper stuck on the wide line had to move out so far to avoid hitting his partner that he clobbered the safety fence and hurt his back. He recovered to take third place though but was clearly in pain. Robert Ksiezak popped out the gate to win heat 2 but Berwick were back on level terms with a 4-2 in heat 3 when Michal Makovsky just managed to hold off Rusty Harrison They took another 4-2 in heat 4. Although Ross Brady made a good start Piotr Dym was soon round him for the race win and the score was 13-11.

Heat 5 was shared then the teams exchanged 4-2s in heats 6 and 7. In the latter heat there was a crash on the first bend when Chris Schramm and Cameron Woodward collided. After both riders had had treatment they were able to take part in the rerun. A determined first two bends by Woodward took him to the front while Rusty Harrison tried in vain to find a way past Piotr Dym to join him. In heat 8 Berwick opened up a six point lead with a 5-1 against the clearly struggling Theo Pijper who then withdrew from the meeting. The score was now 27-21.

Berwick took another 5-1 in heat 9. Although the race was over only three laps (!) the referee allowed the result to stand as Schramm and Makovsky led Ross Brady at the time. This put Edinburgh 10 points in arrears so Rusty Harrison took a TR in heat 10. He stormed from the start and Cameron Woodward executed a fine pass on Adam Pietraszko on the third lap for the third place point to give the Monarchs a 2-7 and bring the score back to 34-29. Wins from Nermark and Harrison resulted in shared heats 11 and 12 but a 5-1 in heat 13 from Dym and Rymel saw the Bandits stretch their lead to nine points. Edinburgh then gave a TR to Cameron Woodward who was facing the unbeaten Michal Makovsky. Woodward made a good start but noticed Makovsky driving round the outside of him. However Woodward was having none of it and moved out to block the Bandit’s outside run and went on to win the heat comfortably for a 3-6. Although it took the score to 48-42 it wasn’t quite enough to give Edinburgh a chance of a point and in the last heat Berwick put some icing on their cake with a last heat 5-1 from Rymel and Dym ahead of Nermark and Harrison.

Match Report by Merlin