Call-off “prevented injuries” – skipper

Berwick skipper Leon Flint believes that common sense prevailed after referee Christina Turnbull finally abandoned the Bandits’ fixture at Plymouth on Tuesday night.

The 20-year-old along with Gladiator Richie Worrall, attempted a couple of laps of The Coliseum track before a gathering of riders and management ended with the plug pulled on the meeting 50 minutes after the scheduled start time.

Spectators in the stadium and watching via the British Speedway Network saw both riders struggling to slide the bikes on a surface that the home management had attempted to tyre pack as the riders warmed their machinery.

Flint said: “I’m sorry for the fans who were in the stadium, but it is the right call. I’m just glad that tonight it didn’t take someone to snap himself before the decision to jack it was made.”

Plymouth have been badly hit by rain this season and have not managed to stage a home meeting since June 20, the previous attempt to run this fixtures, abandoned due to a heavy downpour 30 minutes before the start, the first of six consecutive home and away rain-offs suffered by Plymouth.

Flint had actually won the coin toss and elected gates 1 and 3 before discontent over the soft nature of the top surface, simmering since riders began arriving at the stadium, reignited.

Berwick co-owner and team manager Scott Courtney said: “Two riders who are at home on deep, gnarly tracks gave it a go and agreed that the entrance to the bends were just too poor to safely have two riders going in side-by-side. And at Plymouth that is happening every lap.

“I feel for the Plymouth management and hindsight is a wonderful thing, especially when it comes to track preparation.”

Flint added: “Everyone wanted to get the meeting on, we are professional riders, and we want to race, because that’s what we do for a living, how we pay or bills. But we are not puppets either and, having ridden the track, in my eyes a lot of injuries have been prevented tonight by this decision.”

Plymouth counterpart Ben Barker was a dissenting voice. He said: “I honestly think we could have given it a go. I know this track like the back of my hand and sometimes we have to look at the bigger picture.”

But he admitted that many of his own team-mates did not share his view and fully supported the decision to cancel.

The clubs will now discuss how to fit in the fixture before the cut-off date which currently stands at 10 September, hoping to make it third time lucky.

And spare a thought for Jason Garrad. He was originally due to ride for Oxford Chargers against Kent tonight (Tuesday) but when the NDL match was called off early this morning accepted the opportunity to fill the additional rider (number eight) slot for the FTS Bandits, powered by Keenwood Karpets, travelling to Plymouth from his Oxfordshire home only to find himself cancelled for a second time in the same day!

His Berwick call-up came after Dane Jonas Knudsen pulled out of the meeting due to ongoing fitness problems. Berwick were preparing to use rider-replacement for him.