Berwick Bandits gained revenge over Edinburgh Monarchs in a meeting which went ahead after sterling work from Ian Rae and George Hepburn.
Gary Havelock, Berwick’s team manager, said the meeting would not have gone on without the pair after the weather forecast proved incorrect.
A mass of overnight and early morning rain left the track flooded at 6am and with Rae and Hepburn worked continuously from early morning right up to start time to get a brilliant track surface to race on.
Race times were generally faster than the average and Bandits, who lost 48-42 in the Borders earlier in the season, won 49-41 to continue their good recent form.
Havelock said: “Well we were desperate for the win over Edinburgh and the guys went out and rode out of their skins to get it as that’s all I’ve heard all week….beat Edinburgh…beat Edinburgh.
“We did. It was a great result and next week we’ve got the league leaders, Sheffield (Tigers) in town.
“After Saturday night, our fifth home win in a row, I fully believe we have the beating of Sheffield well within us and it’s going to be a fantastic way to close our first year promoting Berwick.”
The former world champion added: “Before the season started I said the worst we could do would be to win the league in our first season as that would lift what the fans would expect and make next season a hard ask.
“Whilst I didn’t mean finish stone last, the way the fans have stood by us, understood what we’re doing, its actually been a pretty good first season’s business, and the crowds have stuck with us and turned up every week. We put decent foundations in this year to really build on over the future.”
Havelock said: “Got to thank Razor (Ian Rae) and Heppy (George Hepburn) who worked at the track from about six in the morning or some godforsaken hour right through the day after the track was flooded unexpectedly.
“If the forecasters had got their act together and given us accurate information we’d have had the track covered on Friday but as they didn’t get it right at all, we nearly lost the meeting with the flooding, but Razor and Heppy worked a miracle and we had a great track to race on. Thanks guys.”
Olympus Marquees Berwick Bandits (Powered by Mike Hope, Wooler) 49: Nick Morris 12, Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen, Rider replacement, Dany Gappmaier 3, Kevin Doolan 11, David Howe 13, Jye Etheridge 10,
Ryan Terry-Daley (guest) 0
Edinburgh Parsons Peebles Monarchs 41: Lasse Bjerre (guest) 8, Mark Riss 4, Ricky Wells 9, Josh Pickering 4, Erik Riss 12, Max Clegg 2, Mitchell Davey 2
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