Monday briefing

No question who the biggest obstacle between the Jewson Bandits, powered by Keenwood Karpets, and two points in the Cab Direct Championship on Saturday. It’s very much a case of our friend becoming, in the nicest possible way, our enemy.

Richard Lawson will peel off the Bandits’ shirt he has worn with distinction in the BSN Series win over Edinburgh and the Knockout Cup first leg hammering of Scunthorpe to reveal his true colours – the blue of Poole Pirates.

And with all due respect to his team-mates – especially the Cook brothers and Tom Brennan – the question on the lips of every Bandits’ fan is how do we keep Rocket Man on the launch pad?

His record at Shielfield stands comparison with the likes of Sam Masters and fellow Cumbrian Craig Cook. Since his Workington debut in 2009 Richard has made 25 appearances here and scored 240 points. There’s a top score of 18, including a double point tactical ride, on the 2011 night when the Bandits still ran out 52-41 winners and current co-owner Jamie Courtney guested for the Comets.

Visits in Redcar, Glasgow and Eastbourne colours saw the points pile up but the last three years has seen the Lawson legend fly even higher. Since 2022 he’s been here eight times and scored 85 points (plus seven bonus) at a meeting average of 12.14 and a cma of exactly 10. Of those 34 races 21 have been won and a further six ended in paid wins.

Oh and there’s two full and one paid maximum in those eight outings too.

“I do like the place,” the now 37-year-old said with just a hint of understatement on Saturday before admitting: “it will be a bit strange wearing white and yellow helmets after those two meetings riding for Berwick.”

With Lewis Kerr still some way off fitness, Berwick boss Stewart Dickson will announce the guest who will go head to head with Richard later in the week.

• Skipper Rory Schlein will not let his side rest on their laurels despite the demolition of Scunthorpe on Saturday night.

“We did everyone proud and dug deep after a disappointing night at Edinburgh. Drew was battered and bruised but got his head down and looked really good. I was pleased not just for the riders but the management and fans too after the disappointment of Friday night.

“Jye wasn’t able to ride. He looked very second-hand but he was in the pits geeing us up and I think that shows we are working as a real unit with Danyon and Bastian again coming up with big rides when we needed them.

“Freddy’s having a bit of a slow burner but I think everyone can see that he has a lot of talent and I’m totally confident that he will get there as the season goes on.”

Indeed the teenager stayed in Berwick on Saturday night instead of heading back to his Rugby home so that he could get some practice in at our Duns training track under the watchful eye of club co-owner Scott Courtney and guest instructor Kevin Little.

He hopes that tips and techniques picked up on our custom-built 126 metre circuit will be put to good use when he makes the long trip from his Rugby home to Plymouth tomorrow night (Tuesday) for the Great Britain under-21 qualifier.

Ten places are at stake for the final, at Glasgow’s Ashfield stadium, on June 2 Stream

• Drew Kemp showed not just his bravery but gave us a glimpse of the dogged determination that has made him a GB under-21 regular over the past few years.

As he limped his way up the back straight towards the Armadale pits on Friday night following his coming together with team-mate Jye Etheridge and the huge resulting crash it seemed odds-on that the weekend was over for our winter recruit.

As vans were packed up for the trip back to the Borders his insistence that he would be fit to face former club Scunthorpe seemed like typical racing bravado which would disappear in the cold light of day after the adrenaline wore off.

Not only was he not kidding but Drew went onto complete a match-winning haul of 12 points with three hugely impressive race wins for good measure.

That’s just one point off his career-high – 13+2 from six rides for the Scorpions at Poole in last year’s play-offs and 13 from seven rides for Edinburgh at Redcar in the 2021 post-season, a series which included a paid maximum in the second leg against the Bears.  He’s had a dozen before for both Scunthorpe and Poole but always from six rides, his haul against the Scorpions in the cup coming from only five.

There was plenty of stiffness and bruising to the hip to remind him of the Armadale catastrophe – not to mention the presence of a distinctly second-hand Etheridge in the pits.

“To be honest I felt it was time I pulled my finger out,” he admitted after the match. “I was a little bit slow in my first ride but we made changes and it seems to work.

“I want to win for every team I ride for and it would be really good to win something at Berwick. It’s a good lead to take to Scunthorpe which is a track that we all ride pretty well.”

Action pictures: Taz McDougall