Berwick Bandits v Scunthorpe Scorpions

Report

BERWICK made a winning start to their Cab Direct Championship campaign as they held on for a 47-43 win over Scunthorpe at Shielfield Park.

The Scorpions were frustrated by fuel line problems for No.1 Ryan Douglas, who retired whilst leading Heat 11 and then lost race victory in Heat 15 to Thomas Jorgensen after hitting trouble late-on.

Jorgensen put in his best home display for the Bandits with 11+1, with Rory Schlein scoring 9+1, whilst Douglas and Jake Allen both picked up 11 for the visitors.

Berwick captain Leon Flint said: “We’ve had a tough couple of weeks, and not everything went as we would have hoped tonight.

“We had a couple of bits of good fortune with Ryan, but a win’s a win.

“Conditions were really tough with the mist getting thicker as the match went on. It wasn’t easy to get a good sight of what was going on, but in the end everyone got on with the job in hand.”

Scunthorpe boss Dave Peet said: “When Ryan stopped the first time, we thought he might not have had enough fuel in the bike for that race. But when he hit further problems in Heat 15, his fuel line was spewing fuel out, so we think that was the problem in both races.

“Ryan looked completely untouchable apart from that. Had he not hit trouble, we would have won 46-44.

“Without the machinery problems we had tonight, we would have won. We’ve let a couple of league points slip from our grasp, even though we’re in a very healthy position to take the aggregate point. But it is what it is, and there’s no point in dwelling on it.”

CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP
BERWICK 47: Thomas Jorgensen 11+1, Leon Flint 10, Rory Schlein 9+1, Connor Coles 6+1, Jonas Knudsen 5, Jye Etheridge 4+1, Greg Blair 2+1.
SCUNTHORPE 43: Ryan Douglas 11, Jake Allen 11, Connor Mountain 9, Simon Lambert 8+1, Michael Palm Toft 3+1, Nathan Ablitt 1, Max Clegg 0.

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Photo credit: TAZ McDOUGALL