Morris and Flint finale caps great night

Poole Pirates        47

R.E.D Bandits, powered by STS      43

Flock auditing remains on hold but there’s no question a magnificent heat 15 5-1 from Leon Flint and Nick Morris has put the Bandits within sniffing distance of a MAXICab Knockout Cup Final.

Notes of caution include Poole’s more than useful record around Shielfield Park, the likely return of bete noir Richard Lawson to the Pirates squad and 1001 other reasons to be cautious.

Plymouth in July (or August, September, any month to be honest) doesn’t rank too highly on many dream vacation lists.

But a scorching team display means that Bandits fans went to bed with dreams of Plymouth Hoe, Smeaton’s Tower, Tinside Lido and The Coliseum guiding them towards R.E.M.

Bandits gratefully accepted the luck when it came their way, quickly rallied when it went against them and generally produced one of the best on-the-road displays by a Berwick side in years.

Now the incentive couldn’t be greater for the 2026 Bandits to etch their names into the history books alongside the legends of the 1970s and 80s who were serial finalists and two-time winners.

On a track which really couldn’t place all the blame on the weather for its condition, Berwick imposed themselves from the off, winning the toss, surprising the locals by taking 1 and 3 and then showing exactly why as Jye Etheridge won the race comfortably, Chris Harris forcing his way past Leon Flint after the Bandits gated on a 5-1.

Will Cairns – who misses the second leg on international duty – comfortably won heat two, Jenkins and Jack Smith tucking in as Kyle Newman spluttered to a halt.

But our middle order fragility reared its head again as Lasse Fredriksen gated well, got in trouble on the treacherous second bend and finally fell while well adrift at the back, Lewis Kerr and Cooper Rushen awarded the 5-1.

Jenkins pushed everyone wide in the first turn of four, Zach Cook caught in the swamp near the fence and going nowhere. The in-form reserve won the race while Morris wrestled with track conditions and a wild machine to clinch the third place which levelled the scores again.

A huge stroke of luck saw Kerr shed a chain and fall while leading five having joined Rushen at the front, gifting a 3-3 to Flint and Etheridge; Morris again having a rough ride but keeping the throttle open to continue the run of shared heats in six.

Poole threatened to produce grab the meeting by the throat in the middle heats with back-to-back 4-2s.

Fredriksen caught some of the unpredictable grip as he led into the second turn in seven allowing Cook through, Cairns relegating an out of sorts Palovaara to the back.

With Bowes withdrawn from the meeting after apparently aggravating an old injury reserve replacement Cairns, who was leading the fight for Poole, rounded Jenkins and when Newman produced an almost carbon copy manoeuvre to pick off Etheridge.

Rushen, who has huge talent but also a rather chippy personality, was complaining about Morris’ clinical first bend before withdrawing from the shared heat nine before Jenkins kept Cairns in third after an entertaining battle but with Harris winning heat 10 the gap crept up to five points.

Worse Jenkins was suffering from bouts of nausea and feeling generally out of sorts in the searing heat but Berwick stuck to their guns, Cook a mile in front of heat 11 but Flint and Etheridge riding a canny race to ensure that Cairns could not split them.

But it looked as if their hard work could have been undone in a disastrous heat 12. Jenkins took the ride despite still being off-colour, fought his way into second place after Newman’s last to second burst behind Kerr only for his cutout to come adrift and hand the Pirates a heat maximum on a plate. Suddenly the gap was a disturbing ten points.

Flint went tapes to flag in 13 with Cook behind him but the interest was at the back where Morris overcame the graveyard gate four to keep Harris behind him.

Heat 14s are rarely not pivotal or controversial and, at least if you were a Poole fan, Wednesday night was no exception.

With Cairns and Fredriksen gone, Rushen went too wide on turn two, got caught in the detritus by the fence and tangled with Smith, both riders hitting the deck. Referee Paul Carrington viewed the video footage which presumably confirmed his initial view that the 16-year-old was already on his way down when he clashed with the Berwick reserve.

Bandits fans, riders and management agreed, their Poole equivalents certainly didn’t when the red exclusion light came on amid a hail of boos.

Poole’s protests, predictably, changed nothing but it turned a potential banana skin of a heat into a pretty straightforward 3-3.

And perhaps sucked the last little bit of air out of the Poole balloon.

Morris again was on the most unproductive number four gate but you wouldn’t have known it as he left Kerr and Cook standing to join Flint at the front.

There were some hairy moments as Morris found himself a little close for comfort to the fence but the Aussie dealt with the danger the only way he knows how – flat out and fearless.

Flint proved an inspired guest choice, especially when it came down to the battle of the big guns but it was a real team effort.

Typically team boss Stewart Dickson’s summary was: “We’re still behind and nothing has been decided yet,” but surely behind that professional and inscrutable exterior he’s just as excited as us about Saturday?

Pirates: Chris Harris 6+1, Fraser Bowes 2, Lewis Kerr 10, Cooper Rushen 5+1, Zach Cook 8, Will Cairns 11, Kyle Newman 5+1

Bandits: Leon Flint 10+1, Jye Etheridge 6+1, Victor Palovaara 2, Lasse Fredriksen 4, Nick Morris 9+1, Jack Smith 3+3, Jordan Jenkins 9

Pictures: Tony Hartman