Berwick's Czechs bounced in title bid; SPEEDWAY.

BERWICK'S top two Czechs, Michal Makovsky and Josef Franc opened their Premier League Pairs' Championship with a gutsy opening ride, but found the going tough later on, missing out on success this season, writes LAWRENCE HEPPELL.

In their first race, Heat Three, Makovsky made a blistering gate to lead early on, with Franc stuck fast in third against the Rye House pair of Chris Neath and Linus Sundstrom with the latter making the Bandits leader battle hard all the way for his four points.

Heat Seven was always going to be a tough one against the prematch favourites, King's Lynn Stars and so it proved with Tomas Topinka and the young Australian sensation, Darcy Ward leaving the Berwick pair standing from the start to take a maximum 7-2 from the race as Bandits' overall total moved on to eight.

The Border duo's third ride came against equally hard opponents with Steve Johnston and Emil Kramer from the host side, Somerset hitting another seven past Berwick, although Franc did hold second place until Johnston eased his way round for the full-house as Berwick edged to 10.

Their last-ditch effort to grab some good points was against Scunthorpe in Heat 15 with Franc again the one to watch, chasing well behind Magnus Karlsson and holding off the attentions of David Howe to his rear, but the three points collected saw them end their night on 13 points, in fourth place in Group One.

King's Lynn and Somerset went through to meet Workington and Birmingham in the hard-fought semis, both requiring re-runs after falls. The final was contested by Birmingham who eliminated King's Lynn who had to run one rider only in the semi with Ward excluded for causing Jason Lyons to fall, and Somerset who put Workington out to grass.

Birmingham Brummies took the title with ease with Somerset in second; third place was shared between King's Lynn and Workington..