Premier League: Somerset Sharp Rebels 58, Berwick Bandits 34

THIS was another emphatic win for the Rebels on Friday night to continue their surge of form at the top of the table.

However, Berwick were up for the fight and battled right to the end. As a result, the racing was much better than in a couple of recent one-sided meetings and there was even a bit of controversy.

Once again, Somerset got off to a lightning start, with 5-1 maximums in the first three heats. The reserves' race was very exciting, with Jay Herne leading for some time. Eventually, Simon Walker and Brent Werner got the better of the young Australian in a great battle. Herne, who is Somerset's official No 8, was guesting for Berwick in place of Scott Smith.

Tero Aarnio split the Somerset pairing of Stephan Katt and Werner in heat four to stem the tide a little. Things were looking black for the Bandits at this stage and, once again, a home cricket score looked to be on the cards.

The unthinkable happened in heat five when the Berwick pairing of Adrian Rymel and Norbert Magosi took maximum points against Emil Kramer and Matthias Kroeger. Magosi hit the front and looked on the wild side, nearly taking Kramer into the fence at one stage, before finishing second behind his team-mate.

Normal service was resumed in the next race, when Jordan Frampton and Jason Doyle swept to a maximum for the home side.

There was drama in heat seven, when Michal Makovsky was excluded for unfair riding after having come together with Katt. Rebels' German rider was forced to "ride the fence" near the starting-gate area and was very lucky not to have suffered a nasty injury.

He fell at the next corner as a result of the incident and, after a delay, the referee put the red lights on. In the re-run, Walker and Katt had an easy victory over Berwick reserve Adam McKinna.

Heat ten was eventful, with Doyle hitting the deck on the second bend. A red light was seen by the riders and some spectators, who thought that the referee had stopped the race. Eventually, the riders realised that the race was still very much on and Magosi took the win with a time some eight seconds slower than the norm. Apparently, the red flash had come from a camera near the second bend.

With Berwick 41-19 behind, Rymel had a tactical ride in heat 11, but could only finish second to Walker and the race finished all square.

Herne managed a couple of second places in the latter stages of the meeting to show some promise. In fact, on these two occasions, he finished in front of Werner, the highlight being when he got up right on the line to pip the American for second behind Frampton in heat eight.

Rymel won the nominated heat, but it was the Rebels' night once again, with skipper Walker top-scoring in a four-ride maximum of 12 points.

Scores: Somerset 58 (J Doyle 5r 10+1, J Frampton 5r 11+2, E Kramer 4r 10, M Kroeger 4r 4+2, S Katt 4r 7+1, S Walker 4r 12, B Werner 4r 4+1), Berwick 34 (A Rymel 5r 13, N Magosi 5r 5+1, M Makovsky 5r 4, B Johansson r/r, T Aarnio 5r 6, J Herne 6r 5, A McKinna 4r 2+1).

8:21am Saturday 17th May 2008

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