Berwick Bandits v Poole Pirates

BERWICK produced a sensational comeback to stun Cab Direct Championship leaders Poole at Shielfield Park on Saturday.

The Bandits’ unbeaten home record looked set to be smashed as they trailed by eight points with three races remaining.

But in scenes of high drama, they reeled off three successive 5-1s to pull off a 47-43 victory and move to within four points of the play-off places with crucial matches against Edinburgh still on their fixture list.

In-form Nick Morris (16+1) and guest Leon Flint (10+3) were the Berwick heroes in Heats 13 and 15, whilst Jordan Jenkins and Reid Battye took a maximum over Sam Hagon in Heat 14 after the Pirates’ Cooper Rushen had been disqualified for bringing down Battye.

Poole guests Sam Masters (14) and Edward Kennett (12) both won their first four races, but they were on the receiving end of the decisive 5-1 in Heat 15.

Berwick manager Stewart Dickson said: “We had to dig deep for that but in the end I feel we worked hard enough to deserve the win.

“Our future is in our own hands. We have beaten Poole tonight with a couple of riders off-form. There’s three meetings left for the Bandits and realistically we must look at winning them all.”

Poole co-boss Gary Havelock said: “Obviously I am a bit gutted at the end, but overall very proud of the lads.

“We got the aggregate point. Of course I would have liked the win, it would have been good. It clearly meant a lot to them, they were dancing around as if they had won the league. They won’t even make the play-offs!”

CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP
BERWICK 47: Nick Morris 16+1, Leon Flint 10+3, Reid Battye 8+1, Jordan Jenkins 6+1, Victor Palovaara 4+1, Jye Etheridge 2, Vinnie Foord 1.
POOLE 43: Sam Masters 14, Edward Kennett 12, Lewis Kerr 6+1, Cooper Rushen 4+1, Will Cairns 4, Sam Hagon 3, Zach Cook r/r.
Poole win the aggregate point

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Photo credit: KEITH HAMBLIN