Berwick Jewson Bandits won a final heat decider to edge Stellar Omada Monarchs 47-43 in the Borders and prevent a double-defeat to their near neighbours in the Cab Direct Championship.
Monarchs, who won 51-39 at Armadale on Friday, only recorded five heat wins in the return and Alex Harkess, the Edinburgh side’s team manager, admitted: “I’m disappointed.”
Harkess (pictured left by Nigel Duncan with co-promoter, John Campbell) added: “Coming down here doesn’t change, it’s from the gate. We didn’t put ourselves in the major scoring positions enough. The reserves, when they did get into scoring positions, let it slip, unfortunately.
“Even in Heat 15, I was confident we might get a 5-1, but it just takes someone to make a gate and that’s that.”
Six heat wins out of the first eight racer for the home side showed they knew how to gate and the excellent guest Leon Flint, a former Berwick rider, was the only Monarch to take the checkered flag up to this point.
Drew Kemp was the home side’s top scorer and he underlined his form by rocketing from the start in the final race to bring home the win for the Bandits on the evening. Monarchs, however, won the aggregate bonus point.
Berwick 47: Kerr 2+1, Hume 9, Etheridge 3, Kemp 13, Barker 9+1, Hodder 3, Thompson 8+1
Stellar Monarchs 43: Pickering 13+1, Thomson 6+1, Fredriksen 5+1, Castagna 6+1, Flint 11+2, James 0, Coles 2
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