HAPPY AS A CLAM

Was it some weird travel sickness that had befallen our Bandits?

Three away matches and had no away points in the bank.

How did that happen? At Leicester we were desperately unlucky to be robbed by NBJ’s exploding engine and lost 48-41 – just a single point away from a bonus.

A few days later we looked good for a win at Plymouth, yet slumped to 51-39 at the last flag, while the following night at Poole – when our reserves fairly saved the blushes – it was 52-38.

Now don’t get me wrong – it wasn’t too long ago that I used to feel thirty points on the road was more than respectable – but I was hurting because there was no real reason the FTS Bandits couldn’t have taken two, even four points from these first three matches on the road.

So, onwards to the meeting at Scunthorpe tonight.

Checking the form-book, I noted the Scorpions hadn’t dropped any league points at the Eddie Wright Raceway this year, they’d signed up GP Challenge qualifier Adam Ellis and were averaging over 53 points per home league match.

In short, I reckoned that, with our current luck and their home record, we’d more chance of getting kicked by a snake than nicking a point.

Oh dear, poor, poor, pitiful old presenter me — my “expert predictor” wheel may still be spinning, but the hamster’s dead!

Standing tonight at Edinburgh’s sodden Armadale circuit (their NDL fixture with Leicester had managed but two-and-a-half races before the rain called it quits) with rain dripping down the back of my neck, I was constantly checking my phone for updates from Wimbledon (Sir Andy) and Lincolnshire (the EWR) — and as the heat details flowed, I became happy as a clam.

Although, to be fair, the eternal happiness of your average bivalve mollusc may be somewhat over-rated…………

Despite having been half a dozen points adrift as early as Heat 6, those unpredictable Banditos then ‘won’ the remaining nine races by two points, netted our first away point of the campaign and sent me homeward with a bit of a smile.

Our bonny bouncers had achieved what Plymouth, Eastbourne, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh couldn’t do and that was good enough for me, even if Andy couldn’t manage anything in London SW19 — and how about the Gapp?

Just as complaints about his away form were beginning to rumble again, Dani was our top-scorer with a truly impressive eleven points! His star is clearly waxing again.

Mind you, our next away match is at Edinburgh – another double-figure return from him next Friday, and my clam impersonation will be ramped up considerably higher!

Prior to that we have Newcastle – a team I’ve already watched this year, on the night the Diamonds went up to Armadale and really stunned the sometimes-slightly-smug locals by going into Heat 15 at 42-42 – in less than twenty hours as Bandit-fodder at Shielfield, while the Bullets are off a-travelling to Suffolk on Sunday, facing up to the Fen Tigers on NDL duty.

Let’s go racing!.
.
.

Disagree with Dick – as so many do? He is always be happy to hear from interesting people at dick@crystalfm.co.uk