WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!

Former Prime Minister Harold Wilson is reputed to have observed that a week is a long time in politics.

In speedway, the past six days proved a lengthy-enough timeframe for our FTS Bandits to swap a frankly frustrating Saturday defeat by Glasgow for a rampant, rollicking, rumbustious victory up the road at Armadale earlier this evening.

What made Saturday all the flatter (apart from Ben Basso, who was superb) was the stop-start nature of the meeting, this because our newly-installed starting gates took a little while (and a lot of attention by Boss Jamie) to bed in – and of course, the totally-unacceptable failure of a supposedly-refurbished sound system to carry Steve’s race results (and my own offerings) to all parts of the stadium.

Be assured – because I’ve been assured – that the starting-gate has been oiled, waxed and tested all week, and the public address equipment (the failures of which were NOT the fault of your promotion) has been attended to, and we should be coming through loud and clear tomorrow night.

However, what about the bonnie, bouncing Banditos tonight, then?

After the Glasgow result, heads might have been down, spirits on the low side. Hadn’t Edinburgh already beaten the Tigers at Armadale? Wasn’t it acknowledged as a circuit we didn’t always do so well on? Did we travel more in hope than in ager?

Not a bit of it!

Whether you were there in person (and if not, why not?) or glued to your smart-tv at home and watching the show on BSN, your heart may have fluttered right from the start as TJ – who had experienced an awful return to Shielfield against the Tigs – ripped away to win Heat 1 in fine style – ‘way to go, Tommy-boy!

Despite the loss of Nathan Stoneman after an awkward tumble in his second ride – early reports were of a bit of dizziness, which might keep him out of the team tomorrow – the wins kept on coming.

Jye beat Kysie Thomson, and Roo-boy made Craig Cook look just ordinary in Heat 4. A couple of races later, Rory produced a masterpiece of team-riding of the kind we haven’t seen much of since Nick Morris was a Bandit, shepherding Connor Coles home for a 5-1 in front of Cookie. Lovely stuff!

Despite falling behind after Heat 10, the bounce-back just got better and better, with everyone playing his part…..

5-1 from our Danes in Heat 11…… Leon’s win in the next one with hero of the night Connor third……… Roo-boy splitting the home team’s big two in Heat 13….. and then the big one………

Heat 14, just two up, and Jye and Connor pulled off a superb, match-winning 5-1 ahead of Paco -– who seemed to have eased into second place on the last lap before Connor came roaring back out of the last bend to win the match!

Celebrations followed -– and to the delight of quite a few of my so-called friends around the world, my own part of the celebration was to find myself barged by over-excited Banditos and tripping over the back wheel of Jye’s bike as it was being wheeled past…..

So down I went, apparently in full view of the BSN cameras, to judge by the gleeful phoneful of texts I immediately received!

But who cares about a fall from grace when it meant a big win, and a very real chance of getting another victory tomorrow, plus a bonus point for an aggregate win?

Which might, just might, ease us into the semi-finals of the BSN Series as “fastest second”……

We can but dream.

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Want to disagree with Dick (as so many do)? He is always happy to hear from interesting people on dick@crystalfm.co.uk