Bandits fail to escape Witches’ first-leg spell
Berwick Bandits 49 Ipswich Witches 41 Ipswich win 101-79 on aggregate
BERWICK Bandits found themselves with a mountain to climb after Thursday’s first leg of the Knockout Cup quarter-final at Ipswich
The powerful Witches took a 30-point advantage into last night’s deciding leg at Shielfield Park, and the Bandits were without both reserves as Dany Gappmaier and Ryan Blacklock were injured.
Former Bandit Richard Hall was brought in for Gappmaier, while young starlet from Sheffield Jack Parkinson-Blackburn was the cover for Blacklock with the brief from Bandits manager Gary Havelock to “hit em’ hard from the start!”.
At 6pm, a heavy shower hit the uncovered track, making it a little heavier than anticipated.
Bandits Lewis Bridger and Liam Carr roared away in the wet to overpower Danny King and James Sarjeant, although King’s bike died on him with an electrical issue in a Ber- BRITAIN’S Chaz Davies set a new qualifying record at the MotorLand Aragon circuit as he claimed Superpole for race one at the third wick maximum.
Claus Vissing made the gate in Heat Three and was untouchable and went on to take a good three points as Dimitri Berge and Nico Covatti swapped places all race in the 4-2.
Rory Schlein made no errors at the start of Heat Four to take the win in a shared 3-3 that took the score on the night to 15-9, and overall 45-69.
Three shared 3-3s followed, Heat Six by the highly impressive Schlein once again as he remained the only one not splattered with mud.
Nico Covatti took some gating hints from the Aussie in Heat Seven and shot out to lead and win in a share that took the score to 24-18. Overall, the Witches were inching closer to victory, 54-78.
Carr took Heat Eight from the gate, but at the back, young Jack Parkinson-Blackburn was right on the pace, making third-placed Connor Mountain work hard for his point as another 3-3 went into the record books.
Covatti’s top night continued with another brave win when Bridger round of the Superbike World Championship. The Ducati rider, who set the pace in final practice earlier on Saturday, recorded a time of one came round him off bend two of Heat 10, but came back under the Bandits’ number one to hold the win in a 2-4 which sealed Ipswich’s win on aggregate – the overall score standing at 62-88 with five races to go
It was another hard-fought 2-4 for Ipswich in Heat 11, a race where King wound on the power hard to reel in and pass Doolan off bend two of the third lap and take a well deserved win.
It took the Witches to within two of the Bandits on the night, 34-32, but a brilliant race from Doolan in Heat 13 over King withBridgerin third, gave Berwick a 4-2 to extend their lead on the night 41-37.
A win for guest Hall, well ahead of Vissing and Cameron Heeps, gave Berwick a second maximum 5-1 to clinch the match with one heat to go. minute 49.319 seconds to clinch pole position. But his day didn’t end as it had started, as he crashed out on the penultimate lap while in the lead.