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Berwick Bandits v Kings Lynn Stars
KO Cup (1st Round), 20 May 2006
Shielfield Park, Berwick

Berwick 47
1Stanislaw Burza1*202. ..51
2David Meldrum2R31. ..60
3Lee Smethills202*2*. ..62
4Michal Makovsky1*2322 ..101
5Andreas Bergstrom2231*0 ..81
6Danny Warwick2*1*0.. ..32
7Craig Branney31*131* ..92
Kings Lynn 43
1Daniel Nermark332R. ..80
2Trevor Harding0101*. ..21
3Troy Bachelor0030. ..30
4Kevin Doolan332*31 ..121
5Tomas Topinka33033 ..120
6Chris Mills11211 ..60
7John Oliver000.. ..00

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

Both Berwick and King’s Lynn were at full strength for this tie which became the first leg after the scheduled match at King’s Lynn last Wednesday night was postponed by rain.

Berwick had little chance of building up much of a lead to take to the second leg since they could provide only five race winners all match. King’s Lynn were in contention for most of the match and look well placed to win on aggregate with only four points to pull back after tonight’s efforts. Berwick were for once presented with a bone dry track no doubt left that way because of the threat of rain but sod’s law prevailed and no such rain obliged leaving the riders to struggle on a dry dusty surface.

The opening heat was shared after Daniel Nermark led from tapes to flag but Berwick took a 5-1 from the reserves race and looked to build on that advantage. Unfortunately for the Bandits they were not able to provide another race winner until heat 8. Heat 3 was won by Kevin Doolan from Lee Smethills and Michal Makovsky for a shared heat then Tomas Topinka won heat 4 from Andreas Bergstrom and Craig Branney also for a 3-3 as the score went to 14-10.

King’s Lynn pulled two points back in heat 5 with another win from Nermark ahead of Makovsky with Trevor Harding taking third for a 2-4 then they levelled the match with another 2-4 in heat 6. Tomas Topinka won the race but,when David Meldrum pulled up while third, Chris Mills took third place behind Stanislaw Burza. Kevin Doolan had another race win in heat 7 for another share of the points as Daniel Warwick did extremely well to hold off the challenge of Troy Batchelor then in heat 8 David Meldrum ended Berwick’s heat winner drought by beating Chris Mills with Craig Branney third for a 4-2 which took the score to 25-23.

Spurred on by this success the Bandits then added a 5-1 when Michal Makovsky and Lee Smethills both passed Tomas Topinka and Chris Mills to stretch the lead to six points. The euphoria didn’t last long because in the very next heat Troy Bachelor and Kevin Doolan raced from the start to record a 1-5 which cut the Bandits’ lead to two points again. Andreas Bergstrom passed Daniel Nermark in heat 11 to share the points then the Bandits struck with another 5-1 in heat 12. Troy Batchelor touched the tapes and started from 15 metres back but he couldn’t overcome this handicap as Craig Branney and Lee Smethills headed Chris Mills home to restore the Bandits’ six point lead with the score standing at 39-33.

Tomas Topinka won heat 13 but Daniel Nermark lost power on the first bend and drifted into the path of the two Berwick riders balking them in the process. There was no rerun so the race was shared. Kevin Doolan continued his unbeaten run by winning heat 14 for a shared race. The last heat produced a 2-4 win for the Stars. Tomas Topinka won the race but Michal Makovsky at least had the satisfaction of ending Kevin Doolan’s maximum hope by finishing second.

Match Report by Merlin