Our cup runneth out

Berwick Bandits 34

Redcar Bears 56

(aggregate 73-107)

As the old saying goes – it’s time to concentrate on the league as Berwick added another chapter to their recent poor Knockout Cup history.

Any hope the FTS Bandits, powered by Keenwood Karpets, harboured of pulling back a 12-point first leg deficit were left in tatters as the Bears took their Shielfield Park tally to six wins in the last seven visits.

As a tie it was over by the fourth heat as Redcar added an extra 14 points to their aggregate lead, revelling in the conditions and becoming the latest visitors to give the home side a gating lesson.

A day spent in the town’s workshops meant that the Bandits had managed to rebuild some of the machinery totalled in a series of heavy and spectacular crashes at Glasgow on Friday night but while machine may have been salvaged it was a different story for man with the side already operating rider-replacement for Leon Flint and with ex-Berwick hero Aaron Summers guesting for Jye Etheridge.

Jonas Knudsen again finished near the top of the Berwick scorecharts but the young Dane was struggling with heavy bruising which meant that at times he struggled to walk back to the pits.

Berwick needed to hit the ground running instead Chris Harris and Theo Pijper found themselves on the wrong end of a heat one 5-1 inspired by Charles Wright.

Worse followed as the other two parts of Redcar’s three-pronged spearhead, Erik Riss and Lewis Kerr led their team-mates home for further maximums.

Heat four was especially hard to take for the Bandits as Nathan Stoneman shot from the gate and held the lead for three rapid laps only to be picked off by first Jordan Jenkins and then Kerr.

An early team huddle brought a response from the home side as only Wright’s lunge around the outside of Knudsen prevented him from joining Ricky Wells in a heat five 4-2 and Harris then lowered Kerr’s colours to make it a second successive 4-2.

A puncture robbed Summers of an easy third alongside Knudsen and the Dane then teamed up with Theo Pijper for Berwick’s first – and as it turned out only – maximum heat win of the night eight.

Summers and Wells shared the spoils behind Kerr in nine as Berwick kept the deficit to eight points and had an outside chance of at least winning on the night.

A hope which was emphatically snuffed out as Redcar ran riot in the closing stages, gaining heat advantages in five of the last six heats.

The familiar smell of a burning Harris clutch began the rout with the Bears getting back-to-back 5-1s in 10 and 11 and Wells at least managed to split the visiting pair in 12, German Erik Riss completing an untroubled maximum in the process, before a dramatic heat 13.

At the first attempt Harris and Kerr tangled spectacularly on the third bend, the Berwick rider clipping the back wheel of his opponent and both hit the deck at high speed.

Fortunately, there was no lasting damage but the second attempt Kerr – already on a warning from the referee – was caught rolling again, Redcar electing to send him from a 15 metre handicap following his exclusion.

He made little impact on Summers but the former Berwick captain’s hopes of marking his Shielfield return with a heat win ended when Wright wound it on around the polyfoam fence and won the race in style.

Kasper Andersen won 14, Wells again splitting the visiting pair, earning the 2021 Bandit a heat 15 nomination in the process alongside Edwards.

Harris again misfired off the start and by the time his engine found its beat he was too far behind the Dane, Wells completing a top-scoring performance as he became the only home rider in double figures.

Redcar provided 11 of the heat winners on a night that even their loyalist fans could barely have dreamed of at 7pm.

Berwick team manager Gary Flint reflected: “After the highs of Oxford on Wednesday the last two nights have been pretty horrific results’ wise.

“We were battered and bruised and the last thing we needed was a Redcar side right at the top of its game.

“Again I struggle to fault the effort of our lads but we were lacking at times when it came to speed – perhaps not surprising after writing off five bikes at Ashfield.

“The reaction after our team meeting – called following heat four – was positive but with Wright, Riss and Kerr in such good form it was difficult to keep in touch.

“We now have to concentrate on getting everyone fit and aboard top class machinery for the home and away clashes with Edinburgh next weekend.

“Despite this setback there is still plenty left in our season – the Jubilee League and the Championship Play-offs as well as Pairs and individual glory.

“It was a tough night, indeed a tough couple of nights. How we bounce back from the setbacks will decide how our season ends.”

One bright spot on a tricky night was the Academy’s victory over Tees-side Tigers.

Ace and Stene Pijper were both unbeaten from their three rides with Owen Booth paid for nine but the battle between 125 riders Liam Morris and Rocco Webb for the minor point was a cracker, the Berwick guest winning two and the Tiger managing a well deserved paid second in the last heat as Berwick won 26-10 on the night.

Bandits: Chris Harris 6, Theo Pijper 5, Leon Flint R/R, Ricky Wells 10+2, Aaron Summers 5, Jonas Knudsen 7+1, Nathan Stoneman 1

Bears: Charles Wright 11, Jason Edward 5+2, Erik Riss 12, Kasper Andersen 11+2, Lewis Kerr 8+1, Kyle Bickley 4, Jordan Jenkins 5.

Pictures: Taz McDougall