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Berwick Bandits v Workington Comets
Premier League, 26 August 2006
Shielfield Park, Berwick

Berwick 41
1Jacek Rempala13230 ..90
2Andreas Bergstrom0101*1* ..32
4Stanislaw Burza1320. ..60
5Michal Makovsky3232*1 ..111
6Danny Warwick100Fx. ..10
7Craig Branney302*21* 21112
Workington 49
1Garry Stead2*221. ..71
2Alan Mogridge31*31*. ..82
3Tomasz Piszcz31333 ..130
4Rusty Harrison2*3032* ..102
5James Wright1230. ..60
6(g)Carl Belfield000.. ..00
7Aidan Collins20102* ..51

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

Berwick again used R/R at number 3 for the injured Jaimie Birkinshaw while Workington had Carl Belfield as a guest at number 6 for the injured Lee Derbyshire.

Workington arrived from the wash out at Edinburgh last night desperately seeking an away win to keep their play-off hopes alive. They got it too thanks to consecutive 1-5s in the last two races. For Berwick this defeat spells the end of their slim play-off hopes.

What a start for the Comets! Alan Mogridge won the heat and was joined up front by Garry Stead after he had passed Rempala for second place for a 1-5 and four point lead. Berwick pulled two points back in the reserves race won by Craig Branney from Aidan Collins but Workington struck with another 1-5 in heat 3 from Tomasz Piszcz and Rusty Harrison and the Comets were six points ahead. Makovsky and Branney replied with a 5-1 for Berwick after James Wright had made a real hash of the gate. This pulled four points back for the Bandits to take the score after four races to 11-13.

Stanislaw Burza won heat 5 from Stead and Mogridge to share the points but things looked brighter for the home side when they looked to be heading for a 5-1 from Rempala and Bergstrom in heat 6. However James Wright pulled off a superb pass on Bergstrom and was catching Rempala by the end of the race. Berwick took a 4-2 though to square the match at 18-18. They weren’t on level terms for long however when Harrison and Piszcz took a 2-4 in heat 7. It took a fine pass by Makovsky on Piszcz to limit the damage as Workington looked as though they were going to score a 1-5. Workington increased their lead to four points with another 2-4 in heat 8. Alan Mogridge won the race after a superb first two bends while Craig Branney took second place with Aidan Collins third. This took the score to 22-26 after eight races.

The next four races were all shared as Berwick struggled to pull back the deficit. James Wright won heat 9 and Tomas Piszcz heat 10 in which Rusty Harrison fell and remounted while in third place. Michal Makovsky took heat 11 after Daniel Warwick had fallen and been excluded then Tomasz Piszcz won again in heat 12 to take the score after 12 races to 34-38.

At last Berwick got back on level terms in heat 13. James Wright touched the tapes after being unsettled at the starting line by Michal Makovsky’s proximity and had to go from 15 metres back. Rempala led from tapes to flag but Makovsky won a brilliant race with Stead which saw the riders pass and repass on all four laps. The 5-1 levelled the scores at 39-39 but any hopes Berwick had of a result were well and truly crushed when Workington finished with two 1-5s to send them reeling to an eight point defeat. In heat 14 it was Harrison and Collins who beat Branney and Burza then in the last race Makovsky and Rempala had no answer to the fast gating Piszcz and Harrison.

Match Report by Merlin