topsoil

The sun is shining, the covers win again. And as a bonus a bus load of Glasgow fans are coming over after the match at Workington was postponed. How valuable have these covers been this season?

No doubt Edinburgh have a top prospect in Josh Pickering. He was very impressive at Berwick as well. Took two rides to size the place up, the flew around in his last two rides. Then I saw him at Armadale against Peterborough but he didn't look nearly as comfortable. He will be a steal on his average next season I reckon.

Maybe waiting to hear from Lewis Bridger, David Howe, Danny Gappmaier and Lee Payne on their injuries, giving them every chance to get fit before Saturday, before making any premature announcements? Just a thought. Hope Lewis is fit because it will be very difficult to replace his scoring potential on his low average. Should be another cracking meeting with the likes of Morris, Bridger (if fit), Lambert and Worrall going head to head. I still rank Newcastle as one of the strongest teams in the league. Hopefully the forecast rain clears up in time and we get a big crowd.

Full maximum for Liam for Birmingham against Eastbourne tonight

Stop taking it all so seriously. All presenters are much the same. They are only trying to wind up visiting fans. Peter Waite used to get pelters up at Edinburgh, he would just laugh it off.

If Danny Gappmaier and Jye Etheridge continue their current form it would be a big boost

That phrase was mentioned by the centre green announcer last night. I wondered where it came from. Chuffed for Jye this weekend, the scores will have done his confidence the world of good. Quite happy with the win last night and 38 points tonight, given that Lewis Bridger was missing. Green chutes of recovery appearing?

Really good win for Berwick tonight, being honest I didn't think they would get the three points but very welcome. Lots of taking points. Craig Cook still in my book the best rider around Shielfield in a long time. Two nice moves past Morris tonight. How Morris managed to miss him in heat 1, great reflexes. Some great racing by Bridger tonight. Excellent passes on Jorgo, Sarjeant and Proctor. Actually a bit disappointing when he made the gate in heat 8. Looked a very nasty one he got in heat 11. Hope there is no lasting damage. Jye Etheridge the rider of the night for me. Three excellent heat wins. And what a piece of team riding by Morris! I was sure Doolan got second in heat 14. In the end it didn't matter but great effort anyway. Good to see Jorgo again. Won't forget his efforts as a Bandit the past couple of years. Decent crowd tonight, swelled by a good travelling support. Always good to see a few visitors over, adds to the atmosphere. Track slick and dry tonight but understandable. Forecast gave for showers round about tea time so they covered the track as a precaution. Showers never really came to anything. If anything a bit of rain might have helped the track. Sods law though. If it hadn't been covered it would have rained for ages. Signs tonight though that the team are coming together.

This should be another close meeting. Once again there are some cracking visitors. Craig Cook, in my book the top rider in the Championship, flies around Berwick, going to have to go very quick to beat him tonight. The return of Jorgo! I would loved to have seen him come back to Berwick this year. What sort of return will Ty Proctor have? He's been in good form lately. And in Matt Williamson they have one of the best reserves in the league. Good to hear a bus load coming over, it always adds to the atmosphere. None of the incidents of last week please.Looking forward to the likes of Morris, Bridger, Doolan, Cook, Jorgo, Proctor. Should be another good one.

Some people will not like this post but every promotion should take a look at the Berwick Bandits facebook page. Four meetings saved this season by track covers. They have made reference before that it takes a team of 8 of them an hour to lay the covers and the same time to lift them. Take a look at the photo they posted on Saturday night of the helpers. Amongst the group (including Kevin Doolan) are women and kids (which goes against the argument you need a team of strapping lads to do it). Think of the money lost by Swindon today. All the income lost from a Bank Holiday crowd, all the expense incurred. You can put forward all the arguments you want, not being able to get a group of volunteers together, can't get access to the stadium, too much work involved. Just excuses. You need to take a more professional outlook. It's been proved you can do it. By of all teams, a "tin pot outfit" as labelled by Jon Cook. If you wanted to do it, you would find a way.

Ellis Perks and Danny Ayres are team mates at Redcar. Could be interesting.

After watching a meeting like last night, you walk away realising just what a special breed speedway riders are.

I can see why the management weren't happy with Danny. If you know you are going to be struggling but still take your place it's a bit of a selfish outlook and you are letting the fans and your team mates down. Everybody knew Redcar were going to be a useful team so Berwick needed to be firing on all fronts. Berwick couldn't afford passengers last night.

Well that's the fourth meeting of the season saved by covers. Years ago I can remember John Perrin saying that a rain off cost him £3,000. I've no idea how much a rain off would cost Berwick, but these covers must have saved the promotion a lot of money. Berwick may be lacking on the track, but they are certainly leading the way here. The actual meeting was oveshadowed by the injuries to Howe, Ayres, Payne and the medic. Very nasty looking crash and a bit frightening what happened afterwards with the bike out of control. Just a word for Danny Ayres, who took a back wheel to the head and still managed to walk back to the pits. Some really good racing tonight as well, great to see the likes of Garrity, Barker, Bridger and Morris round Shielfield. Heat 5 with Bridger chasing Garrity at high speed was brilliant. Garrity was a cut above everybody. Very impressed with Ellis Perks, a real find for Redcar. Good to see Coty Garcia back again. Always a trier. Mind you, Doolan's cut back to pass him in heat 11 was textbook. Rupportedcar have a very useful team this season and good to see a decent travelling support with them. Things going from bad to worse on the track. Back to square one after the win last week. The only way is up.

This has all the makings of a classic, with both teams packed full of racers. If they get the track preparation right, which I appreciate will not be easy given the heat at the moment, both teams have the kind of riders who will make for great racing. Garrity, Barker (if fit), Charles Wright all in good form, Jonas B Andersen scored 12 in the cup match last year and Coty coming back. Plus Redcar have I think the best reserve pairing in the league with Ayres and Perks. Very difficult match for Berwick, but hopefully we can build on last week. Really looking forward to this one, hopefully the win last week and the good weather will bring a few more out.

Sorry you never got your easy win, but business is business

Really pleased for the club after getting the meeting on, to finally get the first win of the season. That's three meetings saved by covers this season. Brilliant work by everybody. Looking at things halfway through the meeting, it looked like things were going the way of the Panthers, the r/r was scoring way more than Kenneth Hansen and Ashley Morris was an upgrade on Bradley Wilson Dean. Dany Gappmaier winning heat 7 changed things around. Panthers were on a 5-1 when Bridger fell, 3-3 in the re-run, how often have you seen that in speedway? Then David Howe and Kevin Doolan came to the party. Nasty looking incident between Lambert and Etheridge. Hope the two are okay. Never nice when you see a rider high side like that. In Nick Morris we finally look like we have the number 1 we've craved for years. Hope this is the catalyst for a bit of a good run. Very small crowd tonight, not totally unexpected with the weather today. Hopefully the first win will bring a few back. Wonder how long they had "hallelujah" lined up for?

Yes lets hope for a massive downpour when they have worked hard to get the meeting on. It would be great to see that work go to waste and great to have the promotion lose money for a rain off. Honestly.

If it goes ahead it should be another tough one for Berwick, the Peterborough team is full of riders who seem to specialise around Shielfield, Ostergaard, Lambert and Starke all go really well there, as does Lasse Bjerre normally. I've said it before and I continue to say it, full marks for the promotion / workers / volunteers for covering the track and giving every possible chance for the meeting to go ahead. it's already worked a couple of times this season. Obviously nothing you can do if it is still raining come match time, but they are doing all they can do.

Not just the British Final, I've thought for a long time that every match shown live on TV should be promoted like hell to get as big a crowd in as possible. If this means reduced admission fine. Try and get a meeting sponsor to make up for any reduction in income. With the big crowd and TV coverage the sponsor gets good exposure. The sport also looks a lot better to TV companies and any potential fans / sponsors watching.

If you want to offload Simon Lambert I would gladly have him at Berwick, he always goes well here.

Liam 14 for Isle of Wight tonight. Another good score. He may only turn out to be a "NL rider", or a number 7 in the PL, who knows. Just good to see a rider scoring well and picking up confidence again.

Well done to Liam on a maximum for Birmingham tonight. Hopefully a few meetings in the NL will see him get his confidence back.

That's the price they pay for signing up to the Polish league. The riders have a choice, but understandably they will go for the highest payday. That's why I say that British speedway needs to produce more riders, so that through time you can build up a bank of riders who can replace others.

Berwick riders go into the crowd after the meetings, the kids swarm round them for photos and autographs.