Freaky Friday for battling Bandits

Glasgow Tigers    52

R.E.D Bandits, powered by STS      38

Bandits suffered a freaky Friday in Possilpark as they drew another blank on the road in 2026.

They were left to lament the points that got away – top scorer Peter Kildemand being felled by his own mudguard and reserve Reid Battye flipped off his machine with the Bandits seemingly on a 5-1 in separate incidents, one of two spills for the rookie Aussie when in scoring positions.

Trailing by just four points after 11 heats, with Tigers’ number one Kyle Howarth obviously struggling for fitness and Mario Hausl withdrawing with a damaged wrist, a shock result was not out of the question.

Instead Glasgow took advantage of two huge strokes of good fortune in the latter stages to give the final scoreline a lop-sided appearance.

In the penultimate heat Battye picked off Sam Hagon on the third bend and with team-mate Jordan Jenkins taking a more muscular approach to join the Australian at the front it looked good for a 5-1.  At least until the third lap when Battye turned tight into the second bend and it appeared his frame flexed and hurled him to the deck, gifting Glasgow a shared heat.

They ended with a 5-1 too as Kildemand’s efforts to catch the flying Leon Flint saw him thrown out of shape by deep dirt on the fourth bend opening the way for Chris Harris to come through to complete a paid maximum.

Kildemand has literally been there and done that all around the speedway world but even he had “one of those nights”.

Collateral damage in Jye Etheridge’s strong first bend in heat one, the Dane picked himself off the deck to join his skipper for a comfortable 5-1. Three heats later PK accounted for Flint on the first bend and was untroubled for the rest of the race, Battye’s third place putting the Bandits back in front.

That heat one maximum had been immediately cancelled out as, with Sam Hagon out in front, a shared heat evaporated when Battye fell while second and then Jack Smith suffered a loss of power gifting Freddy Hodder a paid win.

Jenkins and Palovaara took full advantage of the hugely skewed gates one and three at the start of three but Harris squeezed past the Swede on the back straight before rounding Jenkins before a bizarre heat five proved that this was not going to be Berwick’s night.

No question Kildemand moved early in the original staging, joining Etheridge at the front only for the red lights to come on. In the rerun Harris ended Etheridge’s race by taking him out to the fence and then roared to the front. A 2-4 wouldn’t have been the worst possible outcome only for Kildemand’s mudguard to come loose and slap him in the face, the Dane hitting the deck again and Glasgow were awarded the 5-1.

Palovaara made another good gate in his rider replacement outing but again was in no man’s land coming off the second bend, Hagon cutting inside, Howarth going wide for another home 5-1. The Swede was hooked from the next heat and replaced by the obvious tactical substitute, Kildemand keeping Flint at bay again but Hodder gated well and relegated the battling Jenkins to the rear.

Another shared heat was followed by the kind of refereeing call which frustrates fans. Harris, as had Kildemand five races before, went early but avoided touching the tapes. On this occasion Willie Dishington didn’t pull the race back and by the back straight Harris had overcome any “self-inflicted disadvantage” and was on his way to victory.

Palovaara’ s topsy turvy night continued as he and Jenkins easily relegated Howarth to third and closed the home lead to four points. Even Kildemand couldn’t make the graveyard gate one work for him as Flint again hit the front but a shared heat sent the visitors into the interval relatively satisfied only for the wheels to came off immediately after the resumption, Hodder producing a sharp cutback off the second bend to take care of the fast-staring Palovaara and with Harris off in the distance Glasgow all-but sealed the win.

That came in 13 despite the efforts of who else but PK who spoiled what looked like being a 5-1 as he powered inside Howarth but could not catch Flint.

Then came the misfortune-strewn final two heats, Palovaara becoming one of those rare riders who suffer the indignity of being replaced by a tactical substitute but still getting the heat 15 nomination.

It was an especially cruel night for Battye who really deserved so much more than two points for his efforts.

Berwick’s focus now turns to inflicting even more pain on struggling Oxford next Friday before hosting Plymouth at Shielfield Park the following night.

Tigers: Kyle Howarth 4+1, Kevin Juhl Pedersen R/R, Chris Harris 14+1, Mario Hausl 0, Leon Flint 16, Sam Hagon 11+1, Freddy Hodder 7+4

Bandits: Peter Kildemand 13+1, Jye Etheridge 7+1, Victor Palovaara 6+1, Jordan Jenkins 9+1, Nick Morris R/R, Jack Smith 1, Reid Battye 2+1

Picture: Ian Adam