Berwick Bandits team manager, Scott Courtney, must rally his squad for the visit of Redcar Bears to Shielfield on Saturday (tapes-up 7pm) after skidding to defeat at Edinburgh Stellar Monarchs, writes George Dodds.
And the result was overshadowed by injuries suffered by Thomas Jorgensen. The Dane high-sided spectacularly and landed heavily on the track as he chased Craig Cook, one of two Edinburgh maximum men on the night.
Despite being taken to hospital on a spinal board following lengthy on-track treatment, the popular Jorgensen was reported to be fully mobile but nursing a sore back and reporting internal pain.
He will miss Saturday’s Championship match between the Bandits and Redcar and may face a spell on the sidelines.
It was a bad night for the FTS Berwick’s Danes with Jonas Knudsen caught out by a long delay to his flight from Europe into Edinburgh Airport which landed around the same time the first two-minute warning sounded for heat one.
In his absence, Steve Boxall, who was preparing to make his debut for the club’s National Development League side, the Bullets, in the second match of the evening, was called up for his first second tier appearance since 2016 and responded with a highly-competitive paid eight points.
It was a tough night for the visitors with skipper Leon Flint aggravating an old shoulder injury which needed ice treatment to allow him to continue racing.
Guests for the night, Armadale track specialist Richie Worrall, and Plymouth’s hugely-impressive teenage, James Pearson, took the fight to the home side and were responsible for Bandits only two heat wins on the night.
Even they couldn’t lay a glove on the Monarchs’ heat leaders with Kye Thompson, five-ride, and Cook, four, roaring to maximums while Josh Pickering dropped just three points as Edinburgh avenged an early-season loss to Berwick in the BSN Series by completing a quick-fire Championship double.
Boxall had shown that he wasn’t there to make up the numbers with a muscular run to the first bend of heat one which left him the only man standing as Pickering, Worrall and Bastian Borke hit the deck.
Pearson and Connor Coles briefly raised the hopes of visiting fans with a heat two 5-1 and they both looked good from the gate all night.
With IIR operating for the unfortunate Jorgensen Berwick were picking up the second places but with Jye Etheridge again struggling for points on the road, Edinburgh got their noses in front and extended the lead to four points when Roynon suddenly found speed from the gate to surprisingly win heat eight, the erratic Borke just managing to keep Coles at bay.
Worrall was used as a tactical substitute in heat ten and did his job to perfection producing a trademark cutback to roar under Pickering off the second bend and set sail into the distance, but Flint was left trailing at the back.
Boxall and the excellent Worrall briefly raised Berwick hopes in 11, gating on Cook but the Cumbrian showed all his Armadale track craft by keeping a tight line on the bottom bend to pick both Bandits off in vintage style.
With Cook off in the distance Boxall and Worrall attempted to team-ride Pickering out of the equation in 13 but the Aussie found a way past Berwick’s debutant, the 4-2 rubber-stamping the inevitable defeat for the visitors.
Flint rode through the pain in Heat 14 and made his best gate of the night only for Thomson to roar around him and win comfortably, both he and Cook protecting their maximum allowing Edinburgh the luxury of giving Borke track time in 15.
Team manager Courtney said: “Losing Thomas and the concern over the extent of his injuries was a tough blow to roll with. Thankfully, the news from the hospital was positive about his mobility, but he is still hurting in a lot of places.
“Jonas was left stranded by the airline and even if it had landed half an hour earlier, he would have made it to Armadale, but Steve took his opportunity with both hands and underlined just what a talent he is. Our guests Richie and James were superb.”
Monarchs: Josh Pickering 12, Bastian Borke 4+1, Kye Thomson 15, Craig Cook 12, Dayle Wood 0, Adam Roynon 6
Bandits: Richie Worrall 13, Steve Boxall 5+3, Jye Etheridge 3+1, Leon Flint 6+2, Thomas Jorgensen 0, James Pearson 10+1, Connor Coles 4+1
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