Berwick Bandits 48 Newport Wasps 42
BERWICK Bandits saved the best until last to ensure they rounded off their 2011 season on a winning note last night.
Two up going into the final heat at Shielfield Park, the Bandits finished with a 5-1 to claim victory and close their campaign in style.
Home skipper Lee Complin, off gate four, cut back sharply on bend one to cut dramatically back under both Leigh Lanham and Kevin Doolan to win the match – with Josef Franc tucking in and keeping Lanham at bay for a spectacular end to the season.
In a match which was always going to be a needle event, the Wasps’ pair of Doolan and Robin Aspegren shot out to lead well in the first heat.
However, the leading Australian suffered engine failure in the fourth lap and allowed the rest of the field through, Howe blasting on the power to also pass Aspegren to record a fortuitous Berwick 4-2.
The Wasps again hit the front in heat two, but Mudgway timed his passes to passes to perfection to go from last to first in three laps in the shared 3-3, while in three Franc became the first Bandit to gate well and lead off bend two in another 3-3 with the score now at 10-8.
A rare gate from Complin gave Berwick another 4-2 in the fifth before a restart of heat five led to a spectacular win for Doolan in a visitors’ 2-4 tightening the match to two points again.
Complin, a shocking gater all his career, again shocked the crowd by shooing into bend one in front again and took a startling win in another shared race 3-3 taking the score to 22-20.
Doolan again thrilled the crowd going from third to first on bend one, including a win over the impressive Complin in a shared eighth race.
That was followed by the first maximum of the night in favour of the home side, won well by Franc over Eklof who finally found his form on a night previously disappointing as the score jolted up to 30-24.
A big win for Howe in heat 10 shared the heat to maintain the home six-point lead, but Doolan and Lanham made Complin and Davey look sedentary on the first two laps until the skipper Complin wound on the power to up the ante dramatically and almost made a pass in a blanket finish which was a Wasps 1-5, taking the score to 34-32.
Eklof again excelled from the gate in heat 12 as part of a home 4-2, but Doolan and Lanham shot away to lead well in the 13th but, with Howe stationary due to an engine failure, Doolan took a fine win.
A share in the penultimate race, won by a mile by Franc, left the match on a knife-edge with one race to go.
Jubilant Berwick boss Ian Rae said: “The lads kept the best until last, as did our skipper who made a cut-back line I have never seen at Shielfield on bend one. “
LAST NIGHT’S SCORERS
BERWICK BANDITS: David Howe (guest) 8, Alex Edberg – Rider replacement, Linus Eklof 7+1, Josef Franc 13+1, Lee Complin (captain) 14, Mitch Davey 0, Jade Mudgway 8+1, John Macphail – did not ride
NEWPORT WASPS: Kevin Doolan (guest) 14+1, Jason Doyle – Rider replacement, Robin Aspegren 8+2, Anders Mellgren 8+1, Leigh Lanham (captain) 10, Mark Jones 2+2, Todd Kurtz
