All the fives, injury update, why we should all support Poole and Havvy, Havvy, Havvy

No action this week for the R.E.D Bandits, powered by STS, with the British Final taking place at the National Speedway Stadium on Saturday.

For the first time in a good few years there is no Berwick representation at the big day, Jordan Jenkins of course painfully crashing out of the semi-final.

In recent years Drew Kemp, Lewis Kerr, Chris Harris and Leon Flint have flown the Bandits’ colours on the big night.

With no actual Bandit to cheer on it’s surely only fair and reasonable that we put all our support behind Leon, he may be a Tiger (and a German Devil) by contracts but put that Bandits’ body colour on him and he’s definitely one of us.

That’s 33 points in our colours this summer including seven 5-1s and a clean sweep of heat 15 maximums – all in partnership with Nick Morris – at home to Edinburgh and Poole and at Wimborne Road in the cup semi-final.

Ω Nick is another hitting top form just as the season reaches its sharp end.

He’s already picked up the Premiership Knockout Cup with Leicester and it was with the Lions he began his best three days since his return to speedway last season.

Eight paid ten in Leicester’s heavy loss at Sheffield on Thursday night before a guest booking for Glasgow at Edinburgh on Friday where the only rider to get anywhere near him was future brother-in-law Kye Thomson who earned an exclusion from the Super Heat after tangling with our man from Canberra.

A flawless 15-points in the 45-all draw and a further four points for winning the Super Heat gives, by my reckoning, Nick the first-ever 19-point maximum.

Winning his first three rides on Saturday made it ten races in a row – beginning with a 5-1 in heat 15 behind Ryan Douglas at Sheffield – without being headed by an opponent.

Not surprisingly it was Sam Masters who halted that run but there was revenge a-plenty with the Oxford-Cheetah-masquerading-as-a-Pirate left all at sea in heats 13 and 15.

With Armadale our next outing – Friday week – in what looks like being a must-win for our play-off hopes, we need Nick to keep that engine in a nice, cosy spot.

But Poole get first dibs as, just to show there’s no hard feelings in speedway, Nick guests in place of the still suspended Richard Lawson against Scunthorpe on Wednesday, Jordan becoming the latest Fraser Bowes stand-in.

Ω Injury news and it’s promising from Denmark where Peter Kildemand plans to race in the domestic league on Wednesday after missing both the Poole fixture and Belle Vue’s clash with King’s Lynn tonight after damaging ribs riding for Fjelsted.

Darryl Ritchings was originally pencilled in to guest for Jack Smith on Saturday only to crash at a meeting in France the previous night and hace to pull out.

Fortunately Vinnie Foord was able to pick up the booking after guesting for Edinburgh on Friday, staying in the north rather than heading home to East Sussex.

Jack Smith is also responding well to rest and treatment for his hip injury and is aiming to return next weekend.

Ω And the answer to the big question is … NO.

As far as we (Dennis McCleary, Gavin Renton and Dick Barrie were all called in on the search) have been able to ascertain there has never been a meeting in Berwick’s history – all the way back to 1968 – when they have banged in three 5-1s in the last three heats to overturn a deficit and win a fixture.

We were there when history was made ladies and gentlemen.

Runs of heat maximums are usually part of thumping victories – such as our KO Cup triumph over Workington earlier in the year.

The nearest to the 2026 Bandits for turning a meeting on its head was at Berrington Lough in May 1992 when we trailed Newcastle 35-30 after heat 11 before a pair of 4-2s (Richard Knight/Scott Robson, David Walsh/David Blackburn) and a 5-1 (Robson/Chris Readshaw) engineered a three point lead which Knight’s heat 15 victory protected for a 46-43 victory.

It’s always illuminating to pull down the dusty suitcases and flip through the annals of Bandits’ past, unearthing some gems along the way.

Some which could never be repeated.

Such as the 1971 mauling of Rochdale Hornets – a short-lived attempt to transplant the legendary Belle Vue Colts to a bleak rugby league stadium on the outskirts of Manchester – which saw the Bandits win 10 of the 13 heats 5-1 in the 60-18 victory.

And later that year – the season when Berwick had a 100 per cent home record and a 0 per cent away one in the 17-team second division – when, operating rider-replacement two Bandits in Doug Wyer and Alistair Brady recorded 15-point full maximums in the same meeting, the 58-20 win over Birmingham.

Impossible to achieve under the modern race format.

Ω Always good to have former world champion Gary Havelock back in the house and managing Poole to yet another defeat at Shielfield Park – that’ll be the third in his last four visits.

Equally entertaining to read his excuses/post-match summary the highlights of which were Cooper Rushen was innocent as the “throttle works both ways” – presumably also for Cooper – it was too dark for his Pirates and Edward Kennett too tired to take further rides, especially heat 14, rather than any error on the part of the team manager. In fact it had already been agreed he would ride in 15 rather than seal the deal in 14.

Defeat by design it would appear.

Lots of Havvy chat going on as the pressure ratchetted and the match got away from the Pirates, referee Willie Dishington in danger of RSI as he repeatedly answered the calls from the pits, negotiations with his riders as to which heats they were prepared to ride in and an offer to abandon the meeting as a draw as the night closed in – in part due to the interminable delays orchestrated by the Poole boss

But Havvy’s “come back to bite you in the backside” moment could prove to be: “It clearly meant a lot to them; they were dancing around as if they had won the league. They won’t even make the play-offs!” 

Probably up there with his 2017 meet the fans night speech in the Black and Gold when as co-promoter, co-owner and team manager of the Bandits he told us that he’s never read the rulebook and didn’t plan to.

It would appear to be as true today as it was then.

Ω For all you stats fans.

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Ω Not that Stewart Dickson is ever short of the necessary motivational words and gestures but a photocopy of “They won’t even make the play-offs” could very be makings its way around the Bandits’ groupchat.

And may even be mentioned in his next pre-match chat. That comes at Armadale on August 21.

And with us likely to be in a shootout with the Monarchs for the final play-off spot come August 29 at Shielfield Park then we need to be looking at victory.

Which would more than likely see us finish fourth in the Championship.

Which would mean facing the team finishing top of the table.

Which is very likely to be Poole.

Wonder if Neil Middleditch is checking out the AA Gazetteer as we speak in preparation for managing at Shielfield Park for the first time?

Ω Poole are at Edinburgh this coming Friday. Which presents something of a conundrum.

Because it would do our play-off hopes the world of good if Edinburgh lost.

But it’s really, really hard to contemplate cheering on Poole, rumoured to be trying to have Bartosz Zmarzlik assessed on a five-point Championship average (no previous experience in Britain) to cover their open-ended facility for Fraser Bowes – a rider who has declared his season over and returned to Australia to recuperate.

There is no limit to the amount of time cover is allowed and let’s be honest no club would claim the moral high ground and handicap themselves by not using the loophole to the full.

But surely one worth plugging this winter. 28 days to find a replacement or only an unattached National League guest should do the job nicely.

Having now raced 75% of their BSN and league fixtures Poole cannot now make any transfers, but they retain the guest facilitiy for 5+ Bowes..

Ω Just a reminder of who has who to play as the time for bums to squeak looms.

Ω A big call for BSN chiefs Martin Hunter and Ben Duffil in the lead-up to their coverage of Friday’s televised clash between .

With the strong possibility that at around 7.25pm they will be broadcasting an interview conducted by Greg Blair involving Alex Harkess and Gary Havelock … should they provide English subtitles?

Ω And speaking of BSN, their latest list of televised meetings includes the Championship Riders’ Championship at Sheffield on September 12 but if you want to watch the Championship Pairs from the comfort of your own home ten days earlier then Poole’s in-house livestream PiratesTV is the place to go for that.

Edinburgh’s crucial matches at home to Poole on Friday and at Scunthorpe (Augusts 28) are part of the tranche of BSN broadcasts along with two visits to Owlerton where Jye Etheridge will be in action for Sheffield in the Premiership. Full details and how to buy streams Here

Pictures: Meg Shootz