Berwick Bandits made up for lost ground late on in the first leg of the quarter final of the 2008 Young Shield at Birmingham on Wednesday having made a ghastly opening in four heats that initially made them look very second best.

It was also a night following some dramatic racing that inspirational skipper Adrian Rymel crashed out of Heat 15, dislocating his shoulder putting his participation in the second vital leg on Saturday in some doubt.

Berwick were hopelessly ineffective in the opening two races that saw them flounder 10-2 down, but following a shared Heat Three and a home 4-2 in the fourth taking the score to 17-7 captain Rymel put a stop to it all in the fifth jetting ahead to lead from the gate, and in the most, followed by Berwick guest Richard Sweetman until he was passed by the hard racing Jason Lyons on the final lap, but Berwick still pulled two back.

10 down again after a Piszcz win in Heat Six and a shared Heat Seven with Watson beating Makovsky before the Berwick management nominated Rymel as a tactical substitute ride from 15 metres in Heat Eight, against Krister Jacobsen and the invincible Piszcz.

Sweetman made a massive gate ahead of the rest and held his lead well with Rymel keeping Piszcz at the rear and passing Jakobsen on the second lap but with Rymel on double points the guest seemed blinkered and raced hard to keep the prospect of a six point tally for Rymel somewhat remote rather than slow a tad and allow his partner through to turn the eventual 1-7 into an elusive 1-8 as Rymel and the Bandits would have preferred.

Still, the six point advantage hauled Berwick to within four points at 27-23 which went to 30-26 in another share in the spoils in the ninth.

Piszcz regained his form again in Heat 10 which he took untroubled over Makovsky in another halved heat, before Rymel took an excellent win in Heat 11 ahead of Watson with Sweetman seeing off the challenge of Lee Herne in a 2-4 to progress the score to 38-36 with only four to go.

Heat 12 was another 3-3, before Heat 13 ended up similarly but not before Birmingham were initially on a 5-1 with Clews and Piszcz battling hard for second place with the Brummie falling as the Bandit came hard underneath him causing the race to be halted by the referee.

It was a tight call for an exclusion and it took several video replays to be viewed before the referee took the step to remove Clews from the re-run for taking Piszcz’s leg from under him and in the re-run Rymel took advantage of a his second chance as he won with ease in another 3-3 with the score now at 41-39.

Birmingham pulled two more into the lead in Heat 14 before Heat 15 was brought to a crashing stop on the second bend when Rymel smashed out of the race having shot across the track inexplicably colliding with the fence.

With the ambulance on the track Rymel was administered gas and oxygen to ease the pain before eventually walking back to the pits under his own steam, but unconfirmed reports would suggest a shoulder dislocation for the Czech, which could well have lasting effect with respect to Saturday’s home second leg, where only time will tell if the skipper’s back in harness or not.

In the re-run Lyons and Watson took a 5-1 over Makovsky but not before the Czech passed Wato who came back round him again for the two points leaving Berwick only eight points adrift setting the second leg up perfectly for a grandstand finish at Shielfield Park this Saturday at 7 when a truly classic speedway clash is on the cards.

“They did us proud, once they shook off the rusty bits,” Said Berwick Promoter Peter Waite, “The lads have put us in a good position to chase these Brummies out of the Young Shield but we cannot underestimate them, they are a solid side and will give us a match to remember and we’re expecting a good crowd so get there early is our advice!”

Birmingham Brummies 50
1. Tomasz Piszcz 3,3,0,3,2 = 11
2. Kyle Legault – Rider replacement
3. Jason Lyons 3,2,3,3,3 = 14
4. Lee Smart (guest) 0,0,0,3 = 3
5. Craig Watson 2*,3,3,2,1*,2* = 13+3
6. Jay Herne ® 2*,0,0,N = 2+1
7. Krister Jacobsen (guest) ® 3,1,1,1,0,0,1 = 7

“Anderson’s Quality Butchers” Berwick Bandits 42
1. Adrian Rymel © 1,3,4^,3,3,Fx = 14
2. Richard Sweetman (guest) 0,1,3,1,2 = 7
3. Michal Makovsky 2,2,2,2,1 = 9
4. Tero Aarnio – Rider replacement
5. Paul Clews 2,0,1*,1*,Fx = 4+2
6. Guglielmo Franchetti ® 1,1*,2,2,1*,0 = 7+2
7. Scott Smith ® 0,0,1*,N = 1+1