Nick and Leon help create history

R.E.D Bandits, powered by STS      57

Edinburgh Monarchs     33

Pictures: Keith Hamblin

There’s probably not been a more significant Berwick 5-1 this Millenium, few in a club history stretching all the way back to 1968.

Fittingly it was Nick Morris and super guest and former Bandits skipper Leon Flint who sealed the deal by relegating Jonatan Grahn and Kye Thomson to the minor places in a frantic heat 15.

The full significance only became apparent once the boffins had booted up the calculators and crunched the numbers.

A 24-point victory gave the Bandits an aggregate point victory over a Monarchs’ side who, in the absence of number one Dan Thompson, relied  almost exclusively on the excellent Thomson to keep their own BSN Series hopes alive.

But it is the Bandits who are in the driving seat, that 5-1 meaning they finished level with Workington on five points but with two more in the race points difference column which means they have qualified for the semi-final stages of the competition … unless an incredible sequence of events unfolds at Ashfield this afternoon involving away victories, aggregate ties and Super Heat deciders.

To be in this position seemed unlikely just 24 hours earlier after a bruising and humbling thumping at Armadale.

But as guests for the night Flint and Sam Hagon orchestrated 5-1s in the opening two heats in a rehash of the previous week’s Knockout Cup thrashing of the Comets, the Berwick fans dared to believe.

Thomson spoiled the mood with his sixth successive race win over the two nights, Jordy Loftus’s surprise third place pulling two points back. Thomson’s run extended to seven race wins as a series of shared heats began to make pulling back the 18 point deficit look hopeful.

But the impossible mission was back on when skipper Jye Etheridge and Hagon raced clear of the combative Grahn and struggling Loftus in a key heat eight.

Finally Thomson was not only beaten but consigned to third place as ex-Monarchs Victor Palovaara and Lasse Fredriksen repelled repeated challenges from their former team-mate.

And suddenly the Bandits were ahead on aggregate but Flint had to work hard to blast around the boards past Paco Castagna to join skipper Etheridge at the front of the pack.

Morris, who had swapped bikes earlier in the night, was looking dominant and took a line so wide it threatened to land dust on the flowers in Shielfield Terrace to get the better of Thomson who burst back to life with a winning tactical sub rude in heat 12, a second successive shared heat as Berwick edged towards their goal.

But qualification was back on a knifedge when Morris assaulted the tapes in heat 13, Thomson relegating Flint to second and Grahn fending off the challenge of Hagon, Edinburgh’s second heat advantage of the night levelling the aggregate scores.

Nervy moments indeed for the Berwick faithful but, as he often had as a Bandit in 2025, Hagon proved to be the man of the moment as he took a tape-to-flag victory over Castagna in heat 14, Fredriksen keeping Loftus at bay and setting up the grand finale.

Grahn threatened to spoil the party in the final race but Flint went wide and Morris cut inside down the back straight and headed for the flag and history.

And when the dust settled Berwick ended the night on +2 race point difference, Workington’s 48-42 home defeat at the hands of Redcar leaving their difference on 0.

It was a 5-1 that, by the end of this afternoon is likely to have rubber-stamped Berwick’s second semi-final, something to bring a smile to the face of injured number one Peter Kildemand as he awaits news on how major the surgery on his collarbone, broken at Armadale on Friday, will be.

Ω Bandits and Edinburgh fans once again dug deep and donated £1,200 to the collection in aid of injured former Berwick and current Monarchs’ Academy rider Connor Coles.

Bandits: Leon Flint 13, Jye Etheridge 8+3, Victor Palovaara 8+2, Lasse Fredriksen 6+1, Nick Morris 10+1, Jack Smith 2+1, Sam Hagon 10+1

Monarchs: Jonatan Grahn 7+1, Justin Sedgmen 4+1, Paco Castagna 5, Kye Thomson 15, Mitch Cluff 1, Jordy Loftus 1

To race: 3 May Glasgow v Edinburgh (45-45)

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