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Hull Vikings v Berwick Bandits
Premier Trophy (Group), 13 April 2005
Craven Park, Hull

Hull 54
1Paul Thorp332*2*1 ..112
2Emiliano Sanchez2*133. ..91
3Lee Dicken1.... ..10
4Emil Kramer31*1*0. ..52
5Garry Stead33333 ..150
6(g)Jamie Robertson020R0 ..20
7Craig Branney212*23 1.111
Berwick 42
1Adrian RymelFx31*0. ..41
2Adam Pietraszko101*12 ..51
4Michal Makovsky22Fx6^2 ..120
5Piotr Dym226^10 ..110
6Chris Schramm3Fx0R1 22*81
7Joachim Kugelmann1001*. ..21

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

On a rain soaked track at Hull the Vikings match against Berwick rather surprisingly got under way after water had been brushed off the track. Hull, still without Joel Parsons, had Newcastle’s Jaimie Robertson as a guest replacement at reserve while Berwick, invoking some rule unknown to me, were able to use R/R for their ex-Captain Simon Cartwright who they sacked on Monday!

Hull got off to a 5-1 start – the race being awarded after Adrian Rymel had fallen – but Berwick took a 2-4 in heat 2 after Jaimie Robertson had fallen. Heat 3 produced three fallers, Michal Makovsky who was run into be Chris Schramm and Lee Dicken. Schramm was excluded and Emil Kramer won the rerun for a 4-2 to Hull with Lee Dicken third. It subsequently transpired that Dicken had ridden in the rerun with a dislocated kneecap and he withdrew from the meeting. Another 4-2 in heat 4 for the Vikings took the score at the end of heat 4 to 15-9.

After Adrian Rymel had won heat 5 for a share of the points the Thorp/Sanchez pairing scored another 4-2 in heat 6 for Hull to put the home side 8 points ahead but the real killer for Berwick came in heat 8 when Emiliano Sanchez and Craig Branney took a 5-1 to leave the Bandits struggling 12 points in arrears at 30-18.

There was a glimmer of hope for the Bandits when Piotr Dym took a TR in heat 9 and won the race. Unfortunately Chris Schramm suffered an engine failure to restrict Berwick’s advantage to 3-6 and take the score to 33-24 significantly still 9 points in arrears. There was no TR in heat 10 though, and it was just as well for Berwick, as the Sanchez/Thorp pair took another 5-1 to open the gap to 13 points. Garry Stead kept it that way by winning heat 11. Hull had no option but to field their two reserves in heat 12. Berwick gave the Cartwright R/R ride to Joachim Kugelmann so they too had both reserves out for a repeat of heat 2! This time Craig Branney won it by passing both the Berwick riders so the size of Hull’s lead remained unchanged.

With the rain falling heavily again, the expected 5-1 from Garry Stead and Paul Thorp materialised in heat 13 to put Hull 17 ahead at 49-32 but Berwick’s decision to hold back the second TR until heat 14 paid big dividends when Michal Makovsky, taking the TR, won the heat with Chris Schramm beating Craig Branney for third place after Emil Kramer had fallen and remounted. The resultant 1-8 brought the score back to 50-40 with one race to go. The last race 5-1 to Hull did not materialise as Michal Makovsky denied Paul Thorp a paid maximum in a cracking race by taking second place for a Hull 4-2.

Match Report by Merlin