Hume sweet home as Bandits triumph

Jewson Bandits, powered by Keenwood Karpets         47

Redcar Bears       43

Perfection. Two wins, five points, top of the fledgling Cab Direct Championship standings. Pretty much as good as it gets.

Only the most blinkered of Bandits’ fans expect anything other than a nail biting encounter with our northeast rivals. And so it proved with Charles Wright being, well Charles Wright, and Dan Thompson proving an inspired replacement for Jonas Knudsen as the Bears gave their travelling support plenty to shout about without ever really threatening to upset the applecart.

As they had the night before Berwick won with an ease that wasn’t really reflected in the final scoreline although with both reserves struggling to get among the points they were never really able to put much distance between the teams.

Luckiest – indeed bravest – man of the night was Jason Edwards who hit the polyfoam fence with such force after being given a first bend shove by Rory Schlein that the bag came off its mounting.

After treatment Edwards emerged bloodied but unbowed, donned a replacement helmet, mounted his second machine and promptly won the rerun, an act of bravery and sheer bloody mindedness that summed up Redcar on the day.

Again the Bandits failed to fire on all seven cylinders. On this occasion it was the turn of Bastian Borke to find, for the first time this season,  points at a premium, not helped by a spectacular crash while lining up one of his trademark stalk and passes.

Instead Danyon Hume, desperately disappointed by the negligible haul against his former team on Friday, led from the front, beginning with inflicting a rare defeat on Wright around Shielfield Park in heat one. Super guest Richard Lawson followed the Bandit home for what would be the first of the three 5-1s traded by the sides in the opening heats.

Redcar hit straight back as Ben Trigger and Jake Mulford streaked clear of their heat two opponents only for Friday night heroes Jye Etheridge and Drew Kemp to add another 5-1 to their tally for the season.

Borke’s spectacular fall as he attempted to pass Trigger and join his captain at the front of five was followed by a maximum from Wright and Thompson which levelled the scores. Again the Bandits responded, Hume producing another stunning start from the gate while Lawson produced a tremendous move to round Ben Barker.

Edwards’ heroics were rewarded with a 4-2 in heat seven but Berwick were destined never to surrender their lead, and extended it in style in nine, Etheridge producing a sublime second bend to pass Barker but the Bears’ guest did manage to force his way past Kemp to limit the damage.

Hume and Lawson – mounted on Schlein’s bike due to a clutch problem with his own number one machine – then made it three 5-1s out of three against Edwards and Bailey, Lawson again having to work well on bend two after a modest start.

Redcar’s Gavin Parr pulled the tactical switch in 12, Wright rewarding his team manager with a trademark swoop off the fourth bend which caught Etheridge on the line after a tremendous battle, Bailey getting the better of Borke to cut the gap.

The Bears were at it again in heat 13, Wright getting the better of Lawson while, despite being wildly out of control at times, Barker kept Schlein at bay.

Edwards won the penultimate heat to give his side an outside chance of forcing a Superheat decider as the points were shared again.

Those hopes were extinguished when Lawson showed exactly why he is in such high demand as a guest, muscling his way into the lead in heat 15 and holding that spot until  the chequered flag.

Bandits: Richard Lawson 12+2. Danyon Hume 10+1, Jye Etheridge 8, Drew Kemp 6+1, Rory Schlein 8, Freddy Hodder 0, Bastian Borke 3+2

Bears: Charles Wright 12+2, Dan Thompson 9+1, Connor Bailey 3, Jason Edwards 7, Ben Barker 5, Jake Mulford 3+1, Ben Trigger 4+1