Berwick Bandits went very close to stepping up the Premier League once more at Newcastle last night, losing out in the last two heats having staged a late revival on a track with a seriously tricky surface.

Most riders were being caught out with the unpredictable soft patches causing a multitude of falls, especially for Michal Makovsky who hit the dirt several times, yet still wowed the crowd with a stunning win with no steel shoe!

Adrian Rymel was in superlative form again and had the beating of all his opposition with ease despite the track surface whilst Tony Atkin suffered a very disappointing night only managing two points.

Tero Aarnio and Paul Clews enjoyed a good night’s work whilst Scott Smith proved once again that the Newcastle track is on of the hardest for him to master, although his alternative methods for taking the bends on Tyneside with his unorthodox ways are nothing if not entertaining, except for Newcastle’s new skipper.

Berwick’s promoter Peter Waite said: “This was agonisingly close for us and despite the track, which was causing problems for both sides we put in generally a good performance although I know Tony is desperately disappointed with his two points.

“Adrian and Michal were simply the best and Tero certainly did better than his one point haul last time he was here whilst Scud, well, he tries his best here but it’s just not a track for Scott.”