Cheetahs first for captain Kemp

Drew Kemp admits that his promotion from the ranks caught him by surprise but is determined to make a success of his new role as Berwick Bandits’ captain.

He takes over from Danyon Hume who is recovering in hospital after crashing and fracturing two vertebrae during Saturday’s Cab Direct Championship victory over Edinburgh at Shielfield Park.

Berwick operate rider-replacement for Danyon at Oxford tonight (Wednesday), Justin Sedgmen was originally due to guest for Craig Cook but the Monarch was stood down on Tuesday afternoon with the Cumbrian set to return after missing the previous two Berwick victories.

Drew’s appointment means it is likely to outwardly see a change of approach to the captaincy with the infectious enthusiasm of the ever-smiling Hume replaced by the more introverted Suffolk racer.

But the captaincy is perhaps more of a surprise to the rider than the Berwick fans who have taken the 2024 winter signing to their hearts with his efforts around the pacy Shielfield Park track and extravagant celebrations raising him to cult status in the Borders.

Drew has moved his green sheet average over seven points and solely on 2025 figures is at 8.6 per match in addition to scoring well for Leicester in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership and with Sokaltterna Sun Cats in Sweden.

“I’ll be honest captaincy wasn’t on my bingo card at all,” Drew admitted as he prepared for the trip to Cowley. “It’s not happened in ideal circumstances after what happened to Danyon but I am looking forward to it.

“It’s probably going to be good for me; some people say I’m too individualistic and the captaincy means I will need to get a bit more involved.”

Drew, who had a short spell in Oxford’s Premiership team last season, can call on two team-mates in top scoring form at both Championship and Premiership level.

Peter Kildemand was named as rider of the night by TNT commentator Ollie Allen after scoring ten in the Spires’ two-point home defeat at the hands of league leaders Ipswich on Monday night.

At the same time 160 miles away Sam Hagon scored six points in Birmingham’s heavy defeat at Belle Vue. Bandits’ reserve Jack Smith was a late call-up for that match after the Brummies were told that Antti Vuolas was ineligible to guest due to Workington’s on-going suspension over administrative issues, scoring paid four.

Oxford have been vulnerable around their home circuit this season, losing to Glasgow and Edinburgh in the league and drawing with Poole in the BSN Series.

Berwick have a poor record there with only one win in 13 previous visits. That came in 2022 when Chris Harris and Jesper Knudsen – who lines-up for the Cheetahs against his former club on Wednesday – both scored 13 points. Cameron Heeps is the only Oxford survivor of the 50-40 Berwick win.

Bandits’ fans unable to make it to Cowley can watch the OxfordTV livestream which goes on air at 7.15pm. Buy here

Cheetahs: Sam Masters, Jonas Knudsen, Zach Cook, Mitch McDiarmid, Cameron Heeps, Francis Gusts, Luke Killeen

Bandits: Craig Cook, Sam Hagon, Danyon Hume R/R, Drew Kemp, Peter Kildemand, Dayle Wood, Jack Smith