crescent girl Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 From the Berwick website today: Berwick’s speedway Bandits face a Devil of a time on Saturday night! That’s because Plymouth Devils are in town, featuring one of the brightest teenage prospects turned up by Denmark’s speedway production line in years – Mikkel Bech! The amazing 18-year-old from Glumso has already in his short career won third place in the World U-21 Championship and featured as a vital member of Denmark’s World Cup-winning squad – and here he is at Berwick, racing for Plymouth’s fast-rising Devils! “It was a magnificent coup for Plymouth new promotion to bring Mikkel Bech into the Premier League” agreed New Holland Bandits’ director George Hepburn. “It displays how strong our league has become this season, and it is interesting that none of the Elite League teams could convince him to join them. Well done to the Devils!” Berwick are without ace Edward Kennett, riding in Denmark on Saturday, bidding to reach the Grand Prix Challenge Final in August – the event which acts as a springboard to the 2014 Grand Prix series – but have booked in a rider who club boss John Anderson described as “the best possible stand-in”. He is Ben Barker, the chunky little Cornishman who just a fortnight ago provided what was by far the best performance at Berwick by any rider, home or visiting, of the year. “Watching Ben putting our guys to the sword while we nonetheless did enough to beat his Ipswich team was magical” enthused Anderson. “As soon as we knew Edward had to go off on his quest to reach the Grand Prix, there was only one name on our minds”. “The prospect of Ben Barker and Mikkel Bech clashing on our track is mouth-watering – I can only suggest to our patrons to get here sharp, in case they miss any of the action!” Saturday’s teams will line up: Berwick: 1. Ben Barker (guest), 2. David Bellego, 3. Robin Aspegren, 4. Matty Wethers, 5. Kozza Smith (captain), 6. Paul Starke, 7. Nicki Barrett. Plymouth: 1. Ricky Wells (guest), 2. Todd Kurtz, 3. Mikkel Bech, 4. Cory Gathercole (captain), 5. Mark Lemon, 6. Jake Anderson, 7. Chris Schramm. LIAM CARR and PAUL STARKE: The continuing progress of Tweedmouth schoolboy Liam Carr has been closely monitored by Bandits’ management, with a couple of significant career moves for Liam having taken place. The 17-year-old has been loaned to Buxton Hitmen for the rest of the speedway season, for whom he will contest National League racing – but only when not required by the Bandits! “We have adjusted our Premier League squad” explained team boss Ian Rae. “We now have an eight-man platoon, to give a little flexibility to the line-up. Paul Starke and Liam Carr will now share the seventh spot in our team, and we can use either of them for any match”. “This week for instance, Paul rides on Thursday at Redcar and on Saturday night at Shielfield -- but Liam will be in the New Holland Bandits’ team on Sunday afternoon, up at Glasgow”. HERE COME THE KIDS! In addition to the regular racing, a novel addition to Saturday night’s programme will be the Northern 125cc Championship, contested by young riders under the age of 15. With eight contestants, aged between eight and 13, riding 125cc powered bikes, the future of speedway in the north seems secure. Local boys such as Leon Flint (10) from Berwick and Kieran Douglas (13) of Cornhill will be on track alongside riders from Edinburgh, Newcastle and Cumbria. HOSPITALITY BECKONS: The hospitality packages offered by Berwick’s Bandits have become legendary in speedway circles. These very special evenings for the club’s guests open with a photo-session with one of their favourite speedway stars, followed by the club’s marvellous buffet supper and bar service during racing -- augmented by a revealing infield visit during racing! Bookings are now open for individual guests and/or party bookings at this Saturday’s match (v Plymouth Devils) and July 6th (v league champions Scunthorpe Scorpions). The cost is only £30 per person (including admission and a souvenir programme) and can be booked by contacting commercial manager Julie Newton on 07840-998845 or julienewton@me.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinny Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 Who the hell writes these press releases??? "The chunky little cornishman"?! Whilst admittedly laughing at loud when reading it, i cannot believe a berwick official would write that in a press release. Whoever does these articles need the sack... Youve had the piotr dyn signing being hailed as the next best pole since gollob, an international superstar unveiled as magoai, the gjedde bonfire incident, now this and theres bound to be others. Shameful 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddyfivetoes Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 (edited) Jesus, do you keep these on file? Dym and Magosi were the previous promoter's signings and comments, probably eight or ten years ago. Charlie Gjedde's bikes were torched when he rode for Newport, and I'm pretty sure the incident wasn't ever commented on by Berwick. As for Barker. He's little, he's Cornish and he's certainly chunky. Seems fair to me. Edited June 19, 2013 by freddyfivetoes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boobs Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 Interesting to see Berwick going for two NL double-uppers. Something not a lot of PL clubs are doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Backless Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 Who the hell writes these press releases??? "The chunky little cornishman"?! Whilst admittedly laughing at loud when reading it, i cannot believe a berwick official would write that in a press release. Whoever does these articles need the sack... Youve had the piotr dyn signing being hailed as the next best pole since gollob, an international superstar unveiled as magoai, the gjedde bonfire incident, now this and theres bound to be others. Shameful Regularly sending such tosh out to what are supposedly targeted media outlets does more harm (on a single club basis admittedly, as opposed to the sport as a whole) to the credibility and exposure to the outside world than any rule change, black & white helmet or absence due to foreign commitment. It's like a (failing) school English project. You failed to mention Harry Potter & magic spells from last year… The best case scenario is that the club is ignored by the recipients because this stuff bounces automatically into the trash can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luluthetiger Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 The best case scenario is that the club is ignored by the recipients because this stuff bounces automatically into the trash can. I absolutely disagree. We all know the "Harry Potter" story was picked up by both the Sun and the Mirror, which gave the club, and the meeting they were publicising, broad national publicity. Berwick are often mentioned in the Glasgow papers, despite being over 100 miles away in another country. Editors want unusual stories. It is the dry-as-dust lists of riders and their dates of birth, etc, that get chucked in the bucket. The quirky stories get the printers' ink. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Backless Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 Nobody suggested "dry-as-dust". I guess "quirky" and "childish drivel" is a matter of opinion. Maybe the "we were talking to an ex-GP star, but he said no" blether coming out of Glasgow is a masterstroke, akin to Joe Kinnear "announcing "I phoned Lionel Messi on my mobile. He hung up". Oh hang on, that's next week's back page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinny Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 Jesus, do you keep these on file? Dym and Magosi were the previous promoter's signings and comments, probably eight or ten years ago. Charlie Gjedde's bikes were torched when he rode for Newport, and I'm pretty sure the incident wasn't ever commented on by Berwick. As for Barker. He's little, he's Cornish and he's certainly chunky. Seems fair to me. No - the magosi and dym comments were made by the person writing the PR and not the promoter. Although i remember waite having an orgasmic outburst as well when those pair were signed. Gjeddes bikes being torched were nothing to do with the berwick PR... They suggested that gjedde stayed up an extra week so the berwick fans could throw him on a bonfire a week later I personally dont find those comments threatening... What are a group of scarf wearing badge covered anoraks going to do? Their idea of thuggish behavior is stickin their middle finger up to someone!!! As for barker... Maybe he is chunky. That maybe a fact but you cant go about saying it, espiecially as hes guesting for the home side! Imagine joe screen guested for wolves and the wolves site admin wrote "The overaged and overweight glasgow number one makes a return to monmore green". That would be a disgusting comment to make yet its a fact he is overweight and overaged. Somethings should be kept from an official press release and calling the guesting number 1 chunky is extremely unprofessional yet somewhat unsurpising. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screm Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 Who the hell writes these press releases??? "The chunky little cornishman"?! Whilst admittedly laughing at loud when reading it, i cannot believe a berwick official would write that in a press release. Whoever does these articles need the sack... Youve had the piotr dyn signing being hailed as the next best pole since gollob, an international superstar unveiled as magoai, the gjedde bonfire incident, now this and theres bound to be others. Shameful Its nothing new,the Berwick press releases have been embarrassing for a while.But dont worry most of us dont take seriously.Infact IMO they are aimed at a section of the support who actually believe that kind of rubbish and need to know what the clubs putting out before they have an opinion. Sad but true. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinh88 Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 good meeting on saturday it should be.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 good meeting on saturday it should be.... Tricky one for Berwick IMO,Lemon And Schramm might do a lot of damage to back up Wells and Bech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emilali Posted June 19, 2013 Report Share Posted June 19, 2013 At least the team does the business on track, the press releases arnt as much of an issue considering the impressive season we are having. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigeddiechek Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 I absolutely disagree. We all know the "Harry Potter" story was picked up by both the Sun and the Mirror, which gave the club, and the meeting they were publicising, broad national publicity. Berwick are often mentioned in the Glasgow papers, despite being over 100 miles away in another country. Editors want unusual stories. It is the dry-as-dust lists of riders and their dates of birth, etc, that get chucked in the bucket. The quirky stories get the printers' ink. I am going to agree and disagree. Of course, you need an angle and some interest, however, there needs to be at least a little bit of thought and class in the release. It is the one thing that disappoints me. I love the way the club is run, I love the way the facilities are constantly improved, I love Saturday night speedway at Berwick. They are too childish in tone, they need to be much more creative. I don't like to criticise, but I also thought the "broomstick brigade" was a pretty weak attempt at humour. The one press release that sticks in my mind as being very good - and now almost legendary - is when Peter announced Henning Bager as the biggest signing in the club's history. It was outrageous and pulled off with such deadpan style: tremendous. Anyway, Barker is a great attraction for tomorrow evening. He was untouchable a couple of weeks back. I think a few of our riders will be looking to turn in a good performance too. Looking forward to it 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emilali Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 I am going to agree and disagree. Of course, you need an angle and some interest, however, there needs to be at least a little bit of thought and class in the release. It is the one thing that disappoints me. I love the way the club is run, I love the way the facilities are constantly improved, I love Saturday night speedway at Berwick. They are too childish in tone, they need to be much more creative. I don't like to criticise, but I also thought the "broomstick brigade" was a pretty weak attempt at humour. The one press release that sticks in my mind as being very good - and now almost legendary - is when Peter announced Henning Bager as the biggest signing in the club's history. It was outrageous and pulled off with such deadpan style: tremendous. Anyway, Barker is a great attraction for tomorrow evening. He was untouchable a couple of weeks back. I think a few of our riders will be looking to turn in a good performance too. Looking forward to it Surely they should always be looking to turn in a good performance? Sadly it hasnt happened nearly enough this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screm Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 A couple of light showers overnight in Berwick,right now its bright and dry,chance of a shower in the 1st half of the day but nothing to worry about.Forecast for this afternoon is much better,with sunshine. A querk in the average rule book sees Ben Barker back at Shielfield as guest,not a bad thing as he was brilliant a couple of weeks ago.Should be a comfortable home win for Berwick. Berwick 54 Plymouth 38. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandits4eva Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 I disagree with the fact it will be comfortable! I've seen Plymouth beat Rye twice... They've taken points at Sheffield and have riders who can cause problems for us... Bech should be one to keep an eye on.. I think they'll get a point personally but hope I'm wrong! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bagpuss Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 'Diminutive' would have been better 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 A couple of light showers overnight in Berwick,right now its bright and dry,chance of a shower in the 1st half of the day but nothing to worry about.Forecast for this afternoon is much better,with sunshine. A querk in the average rule book sees Ben Barker back at Shielfield as guest,not a bad thing as he was brilliant a couple of weeks ago.Should be a comfortable home win for Berwick. Berwick 54 Plymouth 38. Thats some score line I fancy a Plymouth win if Lemon gates.Hope not though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emilali Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 Away win for me in this if Lemon and Schramm have nights they are capable of at Berwick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigeddiechek Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 I think this could also be very tight. It really depends if we fire on all cylinders or not. We're due to do that. I predict Matty Wethers to put it another 100%, solid effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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