Speedway: Andreas given another chance

Jul 7 2007 by Craig McIntosh, The Journal

BERWICK promoter Peter Waite admitted last night that one of the three riders he’d taken out of his line-up last week – Andreas Bergstrom – will still be riding for the Bandits in this evening’s Premier League meeting against Newcastle at Shielfield Park (7pm).

But he also announced a new teenage reserve, Sam Martin, would be making his home debut tonight in place of Benji Compton while his latest Polish recruit Sebastian Truminski steps straight into the number one racejacket in the reshuffle surrounding the departure of Jamie Robertson (pictured below).

It’s the only match for both sides this weekend as the Diamonds’ trip to Edinburgh last night was postponed shortly after 10am when it was clear the Armadale track wouldn’t recover in time from Thursday night’s steady downpours.

Berwick have lost all nine of their league fixtures so far to prompt Waite’s big overhaul but he’s found it harder than he expected to bring in new faces.

He follows Polish speedway more closely than most of his fellow promoters at this level and he said: “I was impressed when I watched Sebastian Truminski about three years ago and I’ve kept track of his scores since then.

“He’s been in good form lately and our poor results have left enough room in our averages for him to join us on the eight points for a European newcomer whereas Jamie Robertson was on less than four. Sam Martin made a guest appearance for us at Newcastle earlier in the season and scored a couple of points.”

Martin, 18, was born in Adelaide but has dual Australian and British nationality and faces a lengthy round trip to Berwick’s home meetings as he’s based near his Conference League club Oxford.

Newcastle take a 21-point advantage for the aggregate point up the A1 from last month’s 57-36 win over the Bandits and they’ve rearranged three fixtures to allow for the recent wet weather.

The Diamonds have brought forward their home meeting with Edinburgh to August 5th, last night’s washout away to the Monarchs is back to its original date of August 10th and there’s now room to welcome Rye House to Newcastle Stadium on September 2.

ANDREW DALBY