WATCH; Doolan named as new captain of Bandits

Kevin Doolan has been appointed as the captain of Berwick Speedway for the coming season, which kicks off this weekend with home and away meetings against Newcastle.

Aussie Doolan, who is in his second spell with the club’ will lead the team into the Tyne-Tweed Trophy clashes against the Diamonds on Saturday and Sunday, before the competitive action begins a week later.

And he is taking his responsibilities seriously, as was demonstrated at the traditional press and practice session at Shielfield on Saturday.

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Around the pits, shortly after being officially named skipper at a team meeting, he could be seen relaying instructions to the new riders as to the best way to negotiate the track.

He also spent some time with the junior riders, passing on some of his experience, and also took all the riders on a walk of the track after the practice to discuss the surface.

“It’s an honour to be named captain,” he said afterwards, “but I am taking my responsibilities seriously.

People who know me know that I am not naturally a serious person, but I want to make a success of this.

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“I think we have a good team, better than some people might be suggesting, and I think we can have a good season.”

Doolan says team bonding is important and he is planning a mountain-biking outing at Glentress in the Scottish Borders sometime in the near future.

“I have done a lot of biking during the winter,” he said, “and it’s great fun. I also won a mountain bike for finishing second in Theo Pijper’s Testimonial at Edinburgh on Friday, and this will be an ideal opportunity to use it.”

Doolan has already hit the ground running this season, having raced in two meetings. He scored nine points at Ipswich on Thursday in the Billy Sanders Memorial, when new team-mate Ben Barker scored eight.

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And at Armadale on Friday he again scored nine points in Pijper’s big night, which put him in the final, where he was only pipped by home favourite Sam Masters who passed him at the end of the third lap.

Other Berwick riders in that meeting included Barker (8), Claus Vissing (7), Thomas Jorgensen (6) and Matic Voldrih (1), who was making his debut at the track.

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