Sting in the tail as Scorpions dish out last-heat agony
Berwick Bandits............................ 44
Scunthorpe Scorpions ................. 46
BERWICK Bandits suffered last-heat misery for the second time this season.
For a lap, top men Rory Schlein and Drew Kemp looked like securing the 5-1 in heat 15 which would have given the Bandits the win.
Instead a tiny misjudgement by Kemp allowed Kyle Howarth and Connor Mountain to secure the match-winning 3-3.
It was a rough night for men and machines as Jye Etheridge (concussion), Michael Palm Toft (shoulder) and Nathan Ablitt (leg) all crashed out of a highly entertaining meeting.
Both sides were forced into using injury rider replacement, but ex-Bandits Academy star Luke Harrison came back to haunt his former club with a match-winning paid nine.
Etheridge suffered a painful night; one he will remember little of. He hit the deck in heat three, the victim of first-bend bunching, with Kemp winning the rerun in the fastest time of the season.
Referee Jim McGregor made use of the video technology to exclude guest Connor Coles after the crash with Harrison in heat five.
Harrison had won heat two, the first of two Scunthorpe 4-2s which saw them lead by four points after five heats.
Crucially, that heat cost Berwick the services of Etheridge as he fell at the back of the race, still prone on the track when Howarth overtook Coles on the last bend of a cracking race.
Etheridge was ruled out of the meeting with concussion but the next heat saw the visitors lose two key riders.
Guest Craig Cook was caught anticipating the start but, as the red lights came on Palm Toft shed a primary chain, falling heavily on the first bend and was run over by teammate Ablitt.
The Dane’s night ended with a trip to Cramlington A&E while the Scorpions’ reserve was also ruled out with a leg injury.
Cook and Danyon Hume – again the winner of heat one – rattled off a 5-1 in the rerun which levelled the scores.
Four shared heats followed as the 9.30pm Shielfield Park curfew threatened to foreshorten the meeting.
Scunthorpe recorded a big 4-2 in heat 11 as Schlein, unbeaten up to this point, was left at the gate and, despite catching Howarth could not reel in Mountain, who was again in imperious form for the visitors.
Another shared heat took the sides into heat 13 where Schlein again played the skipper’s role by jetting from last to first
Unfortunately for Berwick, guest Cook did the opposite in going from first to last as Simon Lambert and Harrison ensured a shared heat.
Kemp led heat 14 by a mile and, with Coles revelling on his return to Shielfield Park, the Bandits seemed about to level the scores when Harrison crashed heavily at the back of the field, going back-first into the polyfoam barrier.
Jake Allen won the rerun, meaning that Berwick needed a 5-1 from heat 15 to take the win.
And that is exactly what they had for two laps, the sublime Schlein once again racing clear with Kemp tucked in behind him.
But the slightest of mistakes as Kemp slid wide on the second bend of lap two was pounced upon by both Howarth and Mountain, who barged through for the shared heat which decided the meeting.
BANDITS: Craig Coo 5+1, Danyon Hume 8, Jye Etheridge 0, Drew Kemp 11, Rory Schlein 14, Freddy Hodder 0, Connor Cwoles 6+2.
SCORPIONS: Kyle Howarth 9+1, Connor Mountain 11+1, Simon Lambert 10, Jake Allen 7+4, Michael Palm Toft 2, Nathan Ablitt 1, Luke Harrison 6+3.