Thursday July 27, 2023
PETERBOROUGH’S long wait for an away win finally came to an end with a terrific performance to win 46-44 at A47 rivals King’s Lynn on Thursday.

The Crendon Panthers fought back superbly from an early eight-point deficit and sealed the deal with a brilliant 5-1 in Heat 14 from Ben Cook and Rising Star Jordan Jenkins, whose team-riding had to be spot on to hold off the challenge of Stars racer Thomas Jorgensen.

In excellent all-round effort, Jenkins put in a great display which saw him involved in three Panthers 5-1s, whilst Vadim Tarasenko was unbeaten from his first three rides, and the middle-order of Cook and Benjamin Basso delivered points throughout the contest.

And that all enabled Panthers to take the win in the absence of Hans Andersen, who missed his flight to the UK with locally based Ryan Kinsley standing in at short notice.

Panthers made a nightmare start to the meeting, conceding 5-1s in the first two races although the first was an unusual one with Niels-Kristian Iversen caught out by wet conditions as he fell on lap two, whilst debutant Emil Breum moved inside Richie Worrall to join Richard Lawson for maximum points.

The home reserves notched another 5-1 in Heat 2, but Panthers fought back strongly and got themselves on the board when Cook and Basso shot from the start in Heat 3 to quickly claw four points back.

And the scores were level after Heat 4 with a super effort from Jenkins, who was joined by Tarasenko in the early stages and held off a strong challenge from home captain Nicolai Klindt.

There were then three consecutive 3-3s with Iversen taking Heat 5 ahead of Jorgensen and Rory Schlein, whilst Tarasenko was a very rapid winner of Heat 6 as he headed home Lawson.

With the seventh race also shared as Basso and Cook packed in behind Klindt, Panthers edged ahead in a competitive Heat 8 with Worrall making the start from gate four whilst Jenkins held third place, and was just unable to get on terms with Anders Rowe.

Tarasenko charged to another win in Heat 9 to keep his unbeaten record going, and the narrow two-point margin was maintained with two more shared races as Cook and Basso packed in behind Lawson in Heat 10, whilst Worrall rode strongly to re-pass Simon Lambert in the next as Klindt took the win ahead of Iversen.

Panthers landed a major blow in Heat 12 with a vital 5-1 from Basso and Jenkins, who kept Lambert at bay, with the Stars by this stage having lost the services of Schlein who was still struggling with the effects of a crash at Oxford last week.

But the six-point lead was brief as in a re-started Heat 13, Lawson and Klindt gated to a 5-1 over Iversen and Tarasenko, the latter having come down heavily on the first bend in the first staging of the race.

However, with the scores at 40-38 to Panthers, Heat 14 was the crucial one with Cook and Jenkins making the best of the start and then combining with some splendid team-riding to squeeze out Jorgensen even though the Dane at one stage appeared to have split them.

That meant another 5-1 to King’s Lynn from Klindt and Lawson in the last race was immaterial to the outcome, as Panthers celebrated their first away win in league competition since September 2021, and their first in any event since April 2022.

Manager Rob Lyon said: “From Heat 3 onwards the boys got into it, made some good starts, got some confidence going and as a team they worked really well tonight – it was a good team performance.

“Jordan has had a couple of hiccups with niggling injuries this year, but generally speaking his form for both Oxford and Peterborough has been on the up.

“I think he is probably the most consistent Rising Star this year and he was the match-winner tonight, man of the match and deservedly so, he rode really well.”

Panthers return to the East of England Arena on Monday with spirits now high ahead of a home clash with Wolverhampton.

KING’S LYNN 44: Richard Lawson 13+1, Nicolai Klindt 12+1, Thomas Jorgensen 5+1, Simon Lambert 5+1, Anders Rowe 5, Emil Breum 3+2, Rory Schlein 1+1.
PETERBOROUGH 46: Benjamin Basso 9+2, Jordan Jenkins 9+2, Ben Cook 9+1, Vadim Tarasenko 8+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 6, Richie Worrall 5+1, Ryan Kinsley 0.

*PETERBOROUGH Speedway are delighted to be supported by Crendon Timber as team sponsors and City Auction Group and PurpleRock as club sponsors.

Photo credit: DEREK LEADER