Diamonds in the Rough and Bandits in the Trenches

They say that it’s the hope that kills you and I’ll admit, on my way to Newcastle I was quietly confident that the Bandits might just pull off a victory at Newcastle on Sunday.

Despite us losing Leon Flint to a dislocated shoulder in a freak post-race incident the night before, I set off with that tingling feeling that maybe, just maybe we could do something just a little bit special.

By two heats in, that feeling was all but extinguished.

Ty Proctor got into difficulty on bends three and four of the Brough Park track and fell in an awkward heap down by the air fence. In Ty’s defence, he wasn’t the only one to find that part of the track particularly challenging, but that is a debate for another day.

What followed was a delay of around an hour while Ty was attended to and taken to hospital and the air fence was repaired. At that point, you begin to get the impression that perhaps the Bandit’s heads would drop, perhaps the dream of getting something from the meeting was, like Ty’s meeting, over.

Down to five riders, battered? Yes. Bruised? Yes. Beaten? Oh hell no.

I don’t think any of the Bandits riders would rate Brough Park as their favourite track in the country but to a man, they stepped up, battled for their points, and nearly pulled off mission impossible.

Inspired by sublime performances from Ricky Wells and Chris Harris, they led the charge but Theo, Jye and Kyle all chipped away with vital wins and crucial points when it mattered to keep us in the hunt all the way to the end.

In fact, had Chris and Ricky been able to get a 5-1 in heat 15, we would have snatched the win, but ultimately that wasn’t to be, and we had to settle for a point. Yes, three points would have been nice but if you had offered me a point when Ty Proctor was on his way to A&E, I would have ripped it from your hand and ran like a scolded dog!

The fact that we were even in the hunt heading into the last heat is a testament to the way the lads battled. While we arguably expect the big points to be scored by the American Dream and Bomber, it could also be argued that what we got from Theo, Jye and Kyle was exactly what kept us in that hunt.

I do want to single out Kyle Bickley though, by his own admission he hasn’t been at his best in recent weeks, and he has struggled a little away from home. He was thrust into a busy night when his reserve partner was ruled out of the meeting and he had been on the deck twice himself, having been brought down by George Congreve on two separate occasions.

He picked himself up, dusted himself down and got on with the job at hand and claimed a vital win, keeping Lee Complin at bay as he chipped away. Fair play to Kyle, that had to have done his confidence the world of good and hopefully silenced a few critics in the process.

I have always maintained that I don’t mind seeing the team lose, as long as you go down swinging then we have reason to be proud.

That is exactly what we have, the guys dug deep and battle in the trenches and took every grenade thrown at them with great gusto. Yes, it will go down in the loss column, but with a massive asterisk next to it that states it was a league point earned the hard way.

Proud?

You better bloody believe it boy!

Now, to give the old vocal cords a rest for a few days.

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