Following their annihilation of Rye House last Friday, the Somerset ‘Sharp’ Rebels currently sit proudly at the top of the Premier League table.
The team will be looking to maintain their push for the Championship when they take on the Berwick Bandits at the Oak Tree Arena this coming Friday [16th].
Berwick are the surprise packets of the Premier League so far this year, riding high in the league table themselves when they had a fairly disastrous Premier Trophy campaign.
As has been the custom over the past couple of years with the Bandits, even in this relatively early stage of the season, there have been a number of comings and goings as far as the team line up has been concerned.
Berwick certainly a cosmopolitan outfit, with no less than 6 different nationalities represent amongst their 7 riders! The team is spearheaded by the Czech duo of Michal Makovsky and Adrian Rymel. Both joined the Bandits back in 2001, Makovsky riding for no other club since he first donned the Berwick race-jacket. Rymel, however, has had a slightly more chequered history; none more so than his leaving Berwick shortly after the start of the 2006 season. With almost two full seasons having elapsed since he last rode for the club, it came as something of a surprise, therefore, when the Berwick promotion announced that the 2006 Czech Champion would, once again, be riding for the Bandits come the 2008 season.
The rest of the middle order is made up of riders from Hungary, Sweden and Finland, namely Norbert Magosi, Benny Johansson and Tero Aarnio. Of the trio, only Magosi has any British speedway experience prior to this season, this being 9 matches he rode for Peterborough a few years ago.
So far this year, Magosi has certainly been the one to impress, running in big scores when at reserve for the Bandits, but since his recent move into the main body of the team, he has found points harder to come by. Aarnio, on the other hand, has made a steadier start to the season, gradually finding his feet as far riding in the UK is concerned, and he too now finds himself in the main body of the team.
For Johansson, however, it has not been the best of starts having only come into the Berwick side in the past couple of weeks as replacement for the Dane Henning Bager. He has found points very hard to come by, and on top of that a recent injury may force him from the side for Friday’s match. If this does prove to be the case then Berwick will operate rider replacement in his absence.
Finally at reserve there is the home grown talents of Scott Smith and Adam McKinna. For Smith, 2008 has seen him return to the saddle after a three year absence, albeit initially for Workington, he signed him as replacement for Craig Branney who was injured before the season even started. Things did not work out at Derwent Park for the 32 year old, and he was released, only to be immediately snapped up by the Bandits for whom he has ridden twice previously.
McKinna is the latest from the dynasty that is the McKinna speedway family as both his father, Kenny and Uncle, Charlie, were top line riders in their day. For Adam progress has been slow so far, but it is hoped that 2008 will be his break-through year.
As far as the Rebels are concerned, team manager Steve Bishop can name an unchanged line up to that which has seen off Newcastle, Scunthorpe and Rye House in spectacular style at the Oak Tree Arena over the past few weeks, and will, no doubt, be looking for more of the same again against Berwick come Friday’s encounter.
Somerset;
1) Jason Doyle (9.63); 2) Jordan Frampton (6.13); 3) Emil Kramer (9.10); 4) Matthias Kröger (5.00); 5) Stephan Katt (6.71); 6) Simon Walker [c] [r] (4.80); 7) Brent Werner [r] (4.87)
Berwick;
1) Adrian Rymel [c] (8.14); 2) Norbert Magosi (7.14); 3) Michal Makovsky (7.88); 4) Benny Johansson (7.00); 5) Tero Aarnio (4.57); 6) Scott Smith [r] (3.13); 7) Adam McKinna [r] (3.00)
