Berwick Bandits unexpectedly pushed their Premier League match at Reading last night to a thrilling last heat grandstand finish just missing out on glory by one point.

Going into the last race Berwick were only one down thanks to an earlier piece of brilliance from Adrian Rymel who as a tactical ride for double points, along with the excellent reserve Paul Clews hammered home a 1-8 heat advantage in Heat 11 to reduce their deficit to only five (37-32).

Heat 12 was shared with the 13th initially looking like a solid Berwick 1-5 until Chris Mills took Norbert Magosi down and out signalling a re-run without Mills, but Mark Lemon took the chance to make a better start and inflicted the first defeat of the evening over Rymel in another 3-3.

Clews and Tero Aarnio made it all look easy for Berwick in Heat 14 by blowing away Jamie Smith and Tomas Suchanek with no problem to take the score with one to go to a nerve-tingling 44-43.

In a highly charged finale Rymel battled his way out of a tight opening bend to lead and win in the fastest time around Reading’s Smallmead Stadium of 2008, but Makovsky couldn’t match the battle and force his way through but was blocked at the back where he remained giving the league win and two league points on the night to the Racers.

Berwick’s promoter Peter Waite said: “We were really impressive tonight and I have to say excellent value in terms of entertainment for the fans but sadly we just missed out on what would have been a sensational win.

“We were without Tiny Atkin after his last race fall at Berwick on Saturday as he really wasn’t 100% at all afterwards but we hope to welcome him back soon but unfortunately we missed his potential scoring power and with Norbert [Magosi] suffering a heavy fall in his first he had the stuffing knocked out of him too early on.

“Adrian was simply superb and his 17 points were very well deserved with his battling performance and for that alone he deserved the match win too, as did the excellent Paul Clews who was such a force from reserve.

“But it was not to be and we can only hope we can go one better when we go to the Isle of Wight tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd July).”

Reading Racers 47
Mark Lemon © 1*,3,1*,3,1* = 9+3
Tom P. Madsen 2,2*,3,2 = 9+1
Jason Doyle (guest) 3,2,3,3,2 = 13
Tomas Suchanek 0,1*,1,0 = 2+1
Chris Mills 3,3,1,X = 7
Jamie Smith ® 2,0,Fx,1 = 3
Nicki Glanz ® 1*,2*,1,0 = 4+2

Andersons Quality Butchers Berwick Bandits 46
Adrian Rymel © 3,3,6^,2,3 = 17
Tony Atkin – Rider Replacement
Michal Makovsky 1*,2,3,1*,0 = 7+2
Tero Aarnio 2,1*,2,0,2* = 7+2
Norbert Magosi Fx,0,0,1* = 1+1
Paul Clews ® 3,0,1,2,2*,2,3 = 13+1
Scott Smith ® R,0,1,0,N = 1