THE BESTEST

Best of the best of the Bandits?

In this time of lockdown and low morale – and in my case, low morals – we are all mostly stuck at home, twidding our fingers, thumbs and whatever else comes within twiddling range.

Nowt to do.

Except ponder on good times past as we wait for good times to come. As they will.

So here it is, the point to ponder — who are, or were Berwick’s best of the best?

The best Bandits of the past fifty-plus seasons?

For most people, their favourite rider comes from quite early in their Bandit-watching life. A rider from the past, whose skills thrilled the younger you. Whose great rides you remember vividly while your fading memory discards the merely ordinary.

Well, I’d like to think I’ve seen them all at one time or another. Choosing the bestest isn’t easy……

What’s “best” anyway?

The best, fastest and classiest Bandit I’ve ever seen was Jimmy Nilsen. He was 5th in the World Championship while riding for Berwick – just think about that — and in other years finished as high as second.

The best point-scorer for the Bandits was Michal Makovsky – 3,541 of them, always for Berwick, his only British club. No-one scored more. Always in the mix – more bounce than Zebedee.

Best in terms of graceful riding style? That would have to be Graham Jones, who was also a popular captain while sitting fifth in our all-time scoring list. If consistency is a jewel, he’d be a whole string of pearls

Best in having the most-exciting, whats-going-to-happen-next style on a bike? Hmmm, that’s tricky, there’s been a few. But I’d have to suggest that Carlos Villar, Grzegorz Stozyk and at times Kozza Smith all scared me shitless at times…..

Best servant to the Bandits? Has to be Rob Grant, with fifteen seasons and 418 matches. Rob also skippered both our 1980 and 1989 KO Cup-winners, and was a stalwart in the side that lifted the Division I Gold Cup in 1991.

And finally, the best team of seven Bandits?

To offer a level playing field, I’ll take my chosen team to be racing in the league the riders excelled in – meaning that Kelvin Tatum would be judged at Division I level, and Adrian Rymel in Division II.

So here goes: I’d want to track the following line-up as my best of fifty-two seasons. In riding order.:

1. Jimmy Nilsen, 2. Wayne Brown, 3. Steve McDermott, 4. Michal Makovsky, 5.Graham Jones, 6. Mark Courtney, 7. Adrian Rymel.

With apologies to Kelvin Tatum, Rob Grant, Nick Morris, Seb Alden, Bruce Cribb, Doug Wyer and Richard Knight, who would be an excellent 1-7 on their own!

So, do you agree or (more likely) disagree? We’re facing a doubtful future as regards a speedway season at the moment, so we could pass some locked-down time by picking our own personal “Bestest Bandits” from the 300-odd riders to have worn black-and-gold over the years…….

The e-mail address below would be happy to receive your selection – I’ll check ‘em all out, and will have plenty of blank weeks to highlight the most-popular choices.

Why not? We don’t seem to have anything else to do……
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Want to disagree with Dick (as so many do?). He is always happy to hear from interesting people at dick@crystalfm.co.uk