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Berwick Bandits v Isle of Wight Islanders
Premier League, 27 May 2006
Shielfield Park, Berwick

Berwick 44
1(g)Gary Flint10R.. ..10
2David MeldrumFx322. ..70
3Lee Smethills2*02*1. ..52
4Michal Makovsky3231*1 ..101
5Andreas Bergstrom3331*0 ..101
6Danny Warwick010.. ..10
7Craig Branney32*1*02 2.102
Isle of Wight 46
1Chris Holder33232* ..131
2Jason Doyle2*1131* ..82
4Krzysztof StojanowskiR232*3 3.131
5Jason Bunyan12R0. ..30
6Chris Johnson1*1*013 0.62
7Nick Simmons2001. ..30

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

Berwick were without Stanislaw Burza who was serving a one match suspension for riding in Poland last Sunday instead of fulfilling a Premier League match at Glasgow. They used Gary Flint as a guest replacement in his place at number 1. The Isle of Wight were again without Krister Marsh for this third leg of their three match northern tour and used Rider Replacement at number 3 instead. With Jason Doyle having recovered sufficiently from a hand injury sustained at Edinburgh last night the rest of the team was on the usual lines. In addition they nominated John Morrison as their number eight.

The Isle of Wight finished their three match northern tour in some style by beating Berwick with a last heat 1-5. The Islanders had to do it with Chris Holder suffering from a stomach upset, Jason Doyle with an injured hand and using Rider Replacement for Krister Marsh. Berwick found the handicap of racing with a Conference League rider in place of their number one too much of a handicap although they led for most of the match before surrendering to the last heat maximum.

For the third match running the Islanders took the lead in the opening heat. David Meldrum fell and was excluded from the rerun leaving Chris Holder and Jason Doyle to score a 1-5 by beating Gary Flint. A rather impetuous ride from Daniel Warwick ended with him falling which resulted in the Islanders’ reserves sharing the race behind Craig Branney but the Bandits drew level in heat 3. Once again they were indebted to their middle pairing of Makovsky and Smethills who left Jason Doyle (R/R) and Krzysztof Stojanowski behind for a 5-1. They followed that with another 5-1 in heat 4 from Andreas Bergstrom and Craig Branney with Jason Bunyan unable to recover after a hard first bend by Bergstrom. This took the score after four races to 14-10.

The Isle of Wight pulled two points back in heat 5. Chris Holder and Jason Doyle hit the front from the start but Michal Makovsky passed Doyle and set off after Holder. The Islander did well to hold on to his lead and the visitors took a 2-4. When Jason Bunyan pulled off a brilliant pass on David Meldrum in heat 6 it looked as though the match would be all square but Bunyan momentarily lost power allowing Meldrum to repass so the heat was shared. There was then a short interval while track watering took place, a rare occurrence at Berwick, before Andreas Bergstrom headed home Krzysztof Stojanowski with Daniel Warwick third for a 4-2 to increase the lead to four points. Jason Doyle then won heat 8 for a shared race which took the score to 26-22.

Makovsky and Smethills produced another 5-1 in heat 9 as Berwick looked to have struck for home doubling their lead to eight points but the visitors struck back with a 2-4 in heat 10 won by Stojanowski from Meldrum who took three laps to pass Chris Johnson. In heat 11 Andreas Bergstrom had a valuable win over the impressive Chris Holder while Craig Branney unsuccessfully challenged Jason Doyle at the back. This resulted in a shared race but there was a real shock for the Bandits in heat 12. The Isle of Wight reserve, Chris Johnson, got out in front and his partner, Krzysztof Stojanowski tucked in behind him to make sure that Lee Smethills was kept in third place for a 1-5 which cut the Bandits’ lead to two points with the score now at 37-35.

Chris Holder won heat 13 but Craig Branney and Andreas Bergstrom mounted a rearguard action to keep Jason Bunyan at the back to share the spoils then the Islanders were delighted to share heat 14. Michal Makovsky missed the gate badly and, although he overtook Chris Johnson, he was stymied by his own team mate, Craig Branney, which prevented him from mounting a challenge on Stojanowski. This meant that Berwick still had a two point advantage with last race looming. Heat 15 saw Stojanowski and Holder hit the front and that, as they say, was that. The 1-5 resulted in another home defeat for the Bandits who will no doubt take stock and consider their options before their season disintegrates.

Match Report by Merlin