All About Believing

To say it has been a long winter would probably be a little bit of an understatement and truth be told even though some form of speedway is back at Shielfield Park this weekend I can’t help but feel a tad bit melancholy, mainly due to non-speedway related stuff more than anything.

However, it does go without saying that once the bikes begin to roar and that sweet, sweet smell hits the back of my nostrils, the hairs on my neck will begin to stand up and much like Bonnie Tyler it’ll all come back to me. That enthusiasm I have perhaps been lacking will be back with a vengeance, and I dare say that by the time the Bandits take to the track to face Birmingham in just over a week’s time, it will back into overdrive and normal service will have resumed.

Speaking of our meeting against the Brummies, that is set to be a significant meeting for several reasons. Not only is it the first ever meeting to be broadcast on the brand-new British Speedway Network but it is a chance for us to start 2022 in a better fashion than we started 2021. If you cast your mind back to that fateful evening a supposedly patched up Brummies side came, saw, and conquered against the Bandits in what can only be described as a bruising encounter.

Now as I’m sure most of you will remember a certain Chris Harris was riding for Birmingham that night and he proved to be a massive thorn in our side. Well, he used to be a Brummie but he’s alright now as Bomber, a bona fide British Speedway hero, turns out as a Bandit for the first time. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, Bomber has genuinely been one of my favourite riders to watch in my 20 plus years watching speedway and to see him in our colours is genuinely the stuff of dreams.

Now I’m as red blooded a male as it gets and I’m not one for man crushes but even I must admit that black and gold suits Bomber ever so much!

First meeting to be streamed on the British Speedway Network.

A chance of redemption for the Bandits.

A debut two decades in the making.

You better believe it’s significant!

That isn’t to say it will be easy for the Bandits though. In my earlier blog I predicted the Brummies would be one of the clubs potentially propping up the Championship table. Now I’ll happily admit I may have been a little hasty in that assumption and given that at the time they had only signed I think three riders, there was plenty to suggest they might end up as “also rans.” However, they have perhaps pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat with the signing of Claus Vissing and securing the signiature of Australian hot property James Pearson. If the rumours are to be believed, they have pulled off another coup with their last rider which may well see them enter the playoff contenders chat and leave the potential languishers chat.

The first meeting of the season is never easy, and this will be no exception. Let’s be real here, having lost the opening meeting of the season in 2021 it put the Bandits on the back foot from the get-go and I’m not so sure we ever really recovered from that. It was a result that more or less summed up our season but that was then, and this is now. There is an air of belief in the air among the Bandits fans that 2022 might just be their year and if they can hit the ground running with a win over a strong Birmingham side that belief may begin to manifest itself into something more.

I guess I’ll see you trackside in the not too distant!

Of course if you wish to agree, or disagree with the Mythman, have an idea for a feature, or you simply wish to chew the fat over all things speedway, you can email me jbspeedwaymedia@hotmail.com or get in touch via the JB Speedway Media Facebook page. If your compliments, or indeed gripes can be contained to limited characters you can tweet @Mythman666.

Until next time…and there will be a next time.

Right, I’ll hae’tae gan.

Mythman