Ecco Finishing Bears were hot on the Bandits' heels at 32-28 when the match was prematurely ended due to the 9.30pm curfew
Redcar Bears collected a welcome point from their trip up the A1 to Berwick, although it might have been more had the meeting gone the distance.
The Ecco Finishing Bears were hot on the Bandits’ heels at 32-28 when the match was prematurely ended after 10 races due to the 9.30pm curfew being reached after several delays.
As they were within seven points of their hosts it was good enough to bag them a Premier League point - but with Berwick down to just four riders and all of the Redcar top five on song, the extra five races could well have handed them the opportunity to snatch an unexpected win.
The delays came after first former Redcar favourite Matej Kus complained of feeling unwell in the pits, believed to be the result of a recent operation to have a wisdom tooth removed. Kus, who had already won twice, required attention from the paramedic and was withdrawn from the meeting.
Then the Shielfield Park paramedic was withdrawn from duty and sent home, the club saying in its official press release that: “...As the paramedic was returning to his position he too fell ill and collapsed.”
With insufficient medical staff present there was a further delay while a replacement was sourced. It arrived in the shape of Dr Alan Fortune who had been enjoying a meal in Kelso, but heroically pushed his plate aside, jumped straight in his car and headed for the track.
And he was soon called into action when Bandits skipper Matthew Wethers was injured in a nasty-looking fall.
Team-mate Liam Carr had got out of shape and Wethers, battling to keep an eager Rafal Konopka at bay, clattered the back of Carr’s machine and fell heavily in front of the pits. Fortunately Konopka laid his bike down to ensure the outcome wasn’t worse.
The county ambulance called for Kus hadn’t left the stadium and Wethers, after being treated on the track, was loaded into it wearing a neck brace and with an injury to his right hip.
All of that meant it would be impossible to squeeze all the remaining races in before the curfew but with 10 heats ticked off when 9.30 arrived, the result stood.
The heat eight crash in which Wethers was hurt was awarded as a 4-2 to the Bears with Carr excluded as the cause of the stoppage, and a repeat of that result next time out brought the score level at 27-27.
But the fast-gating Claus Vissing and Steen Jensen notched a 5-1 over the flying Jan Graversen, who had won twice, and Carl Wilkinson in what turned out to be the final race to secure a home victory.
Clinching a point however was nonetheless a welcome return given both the strength of the Berwick side and the torrid start to the night the Bears had to endure.
At 10-2 down after two races, the notion of leaving with anything at all seemed fanciful.
First Bears No 1 was handed a 15 metre handicap for twitching at the start ahead of heat one even though it was Kevin Doolan who actually touched the tapes, and after starting the match by conceding consecutive 5-1s, the visitors looked up against it.
But Graversen and Wilkinson slashed the deficit with a 5-1 of their own after the latter got the better of a terrific duel with Wethers.
Thereafter whatever the hosts did, the Bears had a reply to it with Lawson winning his only other race, Skidmore looking fast and getting better as the night more on, Graversen in top form, Wilkinson in a typically tenacious mood and skipper Aaron Summers dropping just one point from his three rides.
BANDITS: Claus Vissing 9, Matej Kus 7 (w/d), Kevin Doolan 5+1, Steen Jensen 5+1, Liam Carr 3+2, Matthew Wethers 3 (w/d), R/R for David Bellego.
BEARS: Aaron Summers 7, Hugh Skidmore 6+1, Jan Graversen 6, Carl Wilkinson 3+1, Richard Lawson 3, Rafal Konopka 3, Matt Williamson 0.
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