Berwick 50 Stoke 39 

Stoke Easy Rider Potters hopes of progressing into the second round of the Premier League KO Cup hang in the balance as they went down to a 50-39 defeat against the Berwick Bandits at Shielfield Park on Wednesday night.  

The Potters went behind in heat three when Josef Franc and former Potter Paul Clews gained a 5-1 over Glen Phillips and Jason Bunyan who suffered an engine failure while in second place, to put the Bandits into an 11-7 lead. Franc posting the third fastest time ever at the Shielfield Park circuit and becoming the fastest ever Berwick rider. 

 The Bandits extended their lead in heat four as the bagged their second consecutive 5-1 heat advantage as Michal Makovsky and Guglielmo Franchetti who took second place on the line from Jesper Kristiansen after Franchetti had drove round the outside of the final bend and down the home straight to pip the Dane by inches to give Berwick a 16-8 lead.

 The Potters struck back in heat five though as Lee Complin took victory from Josef Franc who pushed Complin all the way and was unable to find away past the Potters skipper, with Madsen holding Bandits skipper Clews at bay for a Stoke 4-2 heat win reducing the deficit to six points with the score at 18-12. The Potters further reduced the deficit in heat six as Kristiansen took victory but Tero Aarnio managed to split the Potters pairing as he went around Klaus Jakobsen at the end of the first lap to give the Potters a 4-2 and leave the scores at 20-16.

 Berwick extended their lead back up to six points after heat eight as Tero Aarnio passed Jakobsen and Franchetti squeezed passed Tom P Madsen to take a 4-2 race win leaving the scores at 27-21 in favour of the Bandits. Berwick extended their lead in heat nine with a maximum heat advantage from Clews and Franc over Stoke reserves Kristiansen and Jakobsen taking their lead to ten points with the scores at 32-22.

 Stoke use the tactical gate rules in heat ten and gain a 4-2 heat advantage from Jason Bunyan and Glen Phllips, William Lawson managing to split the Potters pairing as Stoke fight back. In heat eleven team boss John Woolridge uses his second tactical gate change but Bandit Makovsky takes the win from Complin and Madsen who both have to pass Danny Warwick to gain a drawn heat.

 Clews took victory in the rerun heat twelve after Franchetti had hit the safety fence while Glen Phillips was leading the race, but the Potters could not capitilise on this as Phillips then suffered an engine failure on the second lap of the rerun race and failed to finish with partner Kristiansen to give Berwick a 3-2 heat win and a 40-31 lead.

The Bandits went further ahead in thirteen as Makovsky blasted around everyone on turns one and two of the first lap to take victory despite Complin pushing him all the way, William Lawson holding Stoke’s Madsen at the back for a Berwick 4-2 taking the scores to 44-33 in favour of the Bandits. Berwick further extended their lead in heat fourteen as the Bandits gained a 4-2 with Franc taking victory from Bunyan, Franchetti though took a lucky third as Kristiansen suffered an engine failure while in a scoring position opening up a thirteen point lead for the Bandits. 

The Potters had the final say though as Jason Bunyan and Lee Complin teamed up for a 4-2 heat advantage over Michal Makovsky and Josef Franc to give the Bandits a 50-39 victory and leave the tie on a knife edge with the second leg taking place at Stoke’s Loomer Road circuit on Saturday night at 7.30pm.

 Team manager John Woolridge said “We are still in there with a chance and will need to get off to a good start on Saturday in order to cancel out the deficit as quickly as possible. “I feel we were a little unfortunate with engine problems all of which happened while we were in scoring positions and then heat twelve was stopped while Glen was leading the race only for him to suffer an engine problem in the rerun. “But that’s speedway and we now have to make sure we turn on the heat right from the off back at Loomer Road in the second leg.”

 Scorers: Berwick 50: Michal Makovsky 14, Josef Franc 10+1, Paul Clews 8+1, Tero Aarnio 8, Guglielmo Franchetti 6+1, William Lawson 3, Danny Warwick 1+1

 Stoke 39: Jesper Kristiansen 10, Lee Complin 10, Jason Bunyan 10, Tom P Madsen 3+2, Glen Phillips 3+1, Klaus Jakobsen 3, Phil Morris (Rider Replacement)