11 POINTS TO PULL BACK IN JULY!

We went down by 39-50 at Berwick in the first leg of the Cock o' the North Trophy, a reasonable enough score but one which could have been substantially better but for a series of unlucky falls in the latter stages of the match.

On a bright but very cold evening, the Shielfield circuit was in very difficult condition, but our riders took to their task with gusto – indeed at times they tried too hard for their own good.

The upshot was that we had SIX different race winners (and the other rider, Micky Dyer, got a paid win!) Has that ever happened before at Berwick? On the other hand we had five different fallers, a total of 7 falls in all, and most of these in scoring positions.

We went ahead when (for the second night running) Charles Wright and Micky Dyer scored 5 points in heat 2. When Craig Cook became our second race winner four races later, over Bandits' guest Howe, we went two points up and held the lead until heat 8.

The problems started there though. Derek Sneddon won the heat and for a while Charles Wright was backing him for a 5-1. Even though Bellego passed him, Charles still looked like getting a point until he fell coming out of the pits bend.

We had two fallers in the next heat and lost a 5-0, though Craig Cook felt he had been elbowed off by Sitera on the way to the first corner.

Theo Pijper was an exciting winner of heat 10 and showed his great ability in coping with the conditions throughout. Derek Sneddon fell in third in heat 11 (won by Andrew Tully) and Andrew was most unlucky to come down in second place in heat 13 thanks to a puncture.

Charles Wright fell heavily in heat 14 while Matthew was in front, but thankfully Matthew did win the rerun, having to come from third to first to do so.

It was all quite frustrating and also worrying to see our riders coming down so often. There were fallers on the home side too, and everyone struggled with the track (other than perhaps Complin).

It seemed too deep on the outside, patchy, and it did not make for a great spectacle, though as on Friday night it was clear to see that our riders are gelling well and fighting hard for their points.

Track man Ian Rae said in an interview that the problem with the track had been the weather – too hot during the week. "It has dried from the bottom up rather than the other way round." I'm not sure anyone knew what that meant.

We don't seem to have any serious casualties – Charles reckoned he didn't feel good but this was more due to Friday's crash than any of Saturday's. Andrew had a sore hand but was quite encouraged for both himself and the team that there had been many positive points.

The second leg is scheduled for July 13th.