Adrian Rymel and Norbert Magosi led heat 1 and Joel Parsons fell heavily attempting a wide pass on turn 2. He took an ambulance ride back to the pits but persuaded the paramedics he was OK to continue despite a swollen ankle. The Bandits followed suit in the re-run and finished well ahead of Ricky Ashworth. Tero Aarnio and Adam McKinna shot out of the gate ahead in heat 2 but Adam's bike expired expensively on the pits turn leaving it a shared heat. I was the Tigers who got the drop and led heat 3 with Paul Cooper coming under pressure from Henning Bager. Henning very nearly passed Paul on the first turn of the last lap but Paul just held onto second place until Henning swept past him out of turn four and won the sprint to the finish line. Adam McKinna hadn't got his spare bike ready in time for heat 4 so his place was taken by Tero. Lee Smethills gated ahead but Michal Makovsky powered around him on the second bend, and Tero squeezed around Ben Wilson on the third bend to extend the Bandits lead. Henning Bager rounded Ricky on the second turn to lead heat 5 while it took Joel two laps to pass Scott James. Five heats gone and the Bandits hold a four point lead.

Ben and Sam Martin were left trailing in heat 6 with Adrian and Norbert in determined mood. Michal Makovsky trapped and was gone in heat 7 while André and Paul team rode home for a shred heat. Lee trapped in front in heat 8 but was passed by Norbert as they entered the back straight and Joel picked up a point with Adam McKinna off the pace riding his spare machine. Ben Wilson gated (at last) to lead heat 9 but came under intense pressure from Henning while Sam kept plugging away at Scott and was rewarded with third place at the start of lap three. Adrian shrugged off André's challenge to win heat 10 while Paul never got close enough to bother Norbert. Two thirds into the match and the Bandits lead now stands at eight points.

Ricky trapped well to lead heat 11 but Michal dived past exiting turn two on the second lap. Joel passed Tero but the Finn responded by blasting around Joel and nearly caught Ricky. Ricky thought Michal's manoeuvre on the second lap had been dangerous and went to give him a taste of his own medicine on the run-down lap but made too hard a contact and spilled the Czechian off his machine. Back in the pits he apologised to the two team managers before contacting the referee. While the ref admitted he hadn't seen the incident he accepted Ricky's honesty and adjusted the fine accordingly. André was on a tactical in heat 12 and made no mistake from the gate while Lee had Henning climbing all over him in the battle for second place. Henning chopped hard under Lee who was skittled off earning the Dane an exclusion and the Tigers took an untroubled 8-1 in the re-run. Ricky took a tumble on the first bend of heat 13 and the ref called "all four back to the tapes". Ricky was the first to show in the re-start but both Czechians powered past him exiting turn two. Ricky fought his way back into second place passing Michal on the second lap, but Michal wound it on around the banking and swooped past Ricky on the pits turn at the end of the third lap. Tero trapped to lead heat 14 with Paul climbing all over him but just failing to find a way past. It was no surprise that the unbeaten Czechs were out again in heat 15 while the Tigers nominations were our two top scorers; André and ex-Bandit Lee. With the result already decided André can be congratulated on pushing the Bandits all the way to the chequered flag.

With only three heat winners it's surprising the Tigers were still in touch in the later stages of the match but it has to count as a disappointing result on a circuit which usually suits our team...

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