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Kings Lynn Stars v Berwick Bandits
Premier League, 06 September 2006
Norfolk Arena, Kings Lynn

Kings Lynn 66
1Kevin Doolan32*31. ..91
2Troy Bachelor1332*. ..91
3Trevor Harding2*2*2*1*1 ..84
4Daniel Nermark33333 ..150
5Tomas Topinka32*23. ..101
6Chris Mills3302*. ..81
7John Oliver2*12*2. ..72
Berwick 27
1Jacek Rempala006^22 ..100
2Andreas Bergstrom211#13 0.80
4Stanislaw Burza1011. ..30
5Michal Makovsky2F10. ..30
6Danny Warwick0F100 0.10
7Craig Branney1010R ..20

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

King’s Lynn were at full strength for this match but Berwick were again without James Birkinshaw and used R/R at number 3 instead.

King’s Lynn returned home after their narrow defeat at Newcastle on Monday to take on Berwick in the first of a four matches in five days spell. Fast closing in on the ‘real’ league title the Stars already led by five points for the bonus point, having won at Berwick by 46-51.

A poor start by Troy Batchelor prevented King’s Lynn from scoring their usual opening heat 5-1. He did pass Jacek Rempala on the second lap but Andreas Bergstrom took second place behind Kevin Doolan as the Stars opened with a 4-2. In the reserves race Danny Warwick was the early leader but he was passed by both Chris Mills and John Oliver for a 5-1 to the Stars which opened up a six point lead. In heat 3 Danny Warwick (R/R) again was the early race leader but again he was passed this time by Daniel Nermark and Trevor Harding. Stanislaw Burza passed him too before Warwick fell off causing the race to be awarded as a 5-1 to the Stars. Tomas Topinka raced off to win heat 4 but a good tussle developed behind him with Michal Makovsky and John Oliver trading places before the Berwick man prevailed for a 4-2 to the home side which took the score to 18-6.

Berwick, who had started badly, then faded completely over the next four races in which they conceded four 5-1s. In heat 5 Nermark and Harding scored the first of them beating Bergstrom and Rempala then in heat 6 Michal Makovsky fell while lying second leaving Batchelor and Doolan to score the second of them. There was no change in heat 7 when this time Mills and Topinka did the honours against Branney and Burza so Berwick gave Andreas Bergstrom a TR desperate to stop the rot. That failed too as Batchelor and Oliver raced from the gate for another easy 5-1 which brought the score after eight races to 38-10. The big questions then were would King’s Lynn hit the 70 point mark and would Berwick manage to top 20 points?

Heat 9 provided no respite as Nermark and Harding added another 5-1 ahead of Makovsky and Warwick to open a 32 point gap between the teams. This result meant that King’s Lynn had clinched the match even if Berwick took four 1-5s and two 1-8s from the remaining six heats! Berwick might have hoped that the interval cuppa would work wonders but it was business as usual in heat 10 when Doolan and Batchelor notched up King’s Lynn’s 8th 5-1 although Burza, who finished third, was more on the pace than before. Incredibly Berwick then gave a TR to Jacek Rempala who, up to that point, had run two last places! However the Berwick team manager clearly knew something nobody else did. His faith was rewarded when Rempala won the race. In fact with Bergstrom behind him it looked as though Berwick might score the full eight points but Topinka got past Bergstrom on the last lap to limit the damage to a 2-7. In heat 12, no doubt inspired by the previous heat, Andreas Bergstrom (R/R) provided Berwick’s second race winner. Danny Warwick was passed by John Oliver and Trevor Harding so the race was shared with the score now standing at 53-22.

In heat 13 Tomas Topinka got his revenge for heat 11 by beating Rempala. Kevin Doolan was third ahead of Makovsky resulting in a 4-2 to the home side but it was all academic now. Heat 14 resulted in another King’s Lynn 5-1 as Nermark and Mills beat Burza while in the last race King’s Lynn went with Trevor Harding and Daniel Nermark while Berwick tracked Jacek Rempala and Andreas Bergstrom. Nermark completed his full five ride maximum but Jacek Rempala passed Trevor Harding going into the last lap to rescue a two points for the Bandits as Bergstrom finished last. The 4-2 gave King’s Lynn a 39 point win in the match and a 44 point win on aggregate.

Match Report by Merlin