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Berwick Bandits v Kings Lynn Stars
Young Shield (SF), 08 October 2005
Shielfield Park, Berwick

Berwick 49
1Adrian Rymel3301. ..70
2Carl Wilkinson2*1132 0.91
4Adam Pietraszko3223Fx ..100
5Michal Makovsky32231 ..110
6Chris Schramm1*1*1*1*1 ..54
7Scott Smith22*2*1*0 ..73
Kings Lynn 48
1Oliver AllenX6^322* ..131
2Ashley Jones1RR0. ..10
3Troy Bachelor2012. ..50
4Kevin Doolan0332!*3 3.141
5Tomas TopinkaR26^0. ..80
6(g)Darren Mallett000.. ..00
7Jan Jaros3112*. ..71

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

Berwick used R/R for the injured Tom P Madsen while King’s Lynn had Darren Mallett at number 6 in place of Tommy Stange.

Berwick were left reeling after King’s Lynn made full use of the tactical options open to them, scoring an extra 7 points, then hit them with consecutive maximums in the last two heats to leave them with a one point lead to take to Saddlebow Road for the second leg.

Berwick started well. In the opening heat Oliver Allen was excluded for bringing down Carl Wilkinson and, in the rerun, the Bandits took a 5-1 but in heat 2 Jan Jaros made the gate and held on to win holding off Scott Smith’s challenge for a shared heat. Berwick took a 4-2 in heat 3. The race was won by Adam Pietraszko and Troy Batchelor just managed to ward off the challenge of Carl Wilkinson for second place but the Bandits scored another 5-1 in heat 4. Jan Jaros made the gate for the Stars but was soon passed by Michal Makovsky and Scott Smith who were out in front before Tomas Topinka had an engine failure. This took the score after the opening four races to 17-7.

Immediately King’s Lynn responded by giving a TR to Oliver Allen in heat 5. Allen won the race and was followed home by Pietraszko and Schramm so the Stars scored a 3-6 to reduce their arrears to 7 points. Berwick stretched their lead to 9 points with a 4-2 in heat 6 as Adrian Rymel beat Tomas Topinka with Carl Wilkinson in third place then Kevin Doolan made the gate in heat 7 for a win and a shared heat. Berwick struck again with a 5-1 in heat 8 from Carl Wilkinson and Scott Smith and the Bandits had opened up a 13 point lead with the score at 32-19.

It was time for King’s Lynn to play their second TR card and Tomas Topinka was given the job in heat 9. He won the heat from Pietraszko and Smith so King’s Lynn scored their second 3-6 of the match to cut the gap to 10 points. The Stars clawed another two points back with a 2-4 in heat 10. Kevin Doolan won the race from Carl Wilkinson and Troy Batchelor picked up the third place point as Adrian Rymel was tailed off badly at the back. Oliver Allen won heat 11 for a shared heat ahead of Makovsky and Schramm then the Stars piled more misery on the Bandits with another heat advantage in heat 12. Kevin Doolan replaced Darren Mallett as a Tactical Substitute starting from 15 metres back. It looked as though the Berwick pair of Pietraszko and Smith were heading for a 5-1 but Troy Batchelor passed Scott Smith who then slipped to the back as Kevin Doolan passed him on the last lap. This turned the heat round to a 3-4 for King’s Lynn and the score after 12 heats was 43-36 with Berwick now just 7 points ahead.

Heat 13 resulted in a 4-2 to Berwick as Michal Makovsky beat Oliver Allen with Adrian Rymel taking third place after a hard first two bends which saw Tomas Topinka relegated to the back but the last two heats ended in disaster for the Bandits and may well have ended their chances of winning through on aggregate. In heat 14 Kevin Doolan and the fast starting Jaros hit the front. On the last lap Jaros and Pietraszko crashed on the first bend and Chris Schramm did well to lay down his bike to avoid the two stricken riders. The referee excluded Pietraszko and awarded the race as a 1-5 to King’s Lynn. The Stars struck hard with another 1-5 in the final heat as Doolan and Allen raced away from Makovsky and Wilkinson to leave the home side with a slender one point advantage.

Match Report by Merlin