PETERBOROUGH warmed up for Monday’s season-defining play-off clash with a crushing 58-37defeat of Swindon, to go through to the Elite League Knockout Cup semi-final.
The fact that the home side recorded nine heat advantages showed their dominance, with only the brilliant Grzegorz Zengota and Leigh Adams offering any sort of resistance for the Robins.
Trailing by eight points from the first leg, the home side immediately took control with two 4-2’s in the first two heats, before the visitors hit back when a Rory Schlein retirement – the Readypower Panthers only last place all evening – gifted the Wiltshire side a 4-2.
Bad luck again struck for the Panthers when Troy Batchelor suffered mechanical troubles on the very last turn of heat four whilst leading comfortably. His lead was such that he only narrowly missed out on the win, despite losing power.
Classy wins followed for Schlein and Krzysztof Buczkowski, with only Zengota providing the away fans with any hope. He won heat seven, before Polish duo Buczkowski and Norbert Kosciuch secured a heat eight 5-1.
Niels-Kristian Iversen, Kenneth Bjerre and Batchelor then each won a heat, with Batchelor thwarting a Leigh Adams tactical ride in heat 11, before the mightily-impressive Zengota raced to another win.
He was as good a visitor as the Showground has seen this season, reeling off four victories out of six rides and showing why he is one of the world’s most talented prospects.
Aussie star Batchelor again beat fellow countryman Adams in heat 13, before Zengota registered a six-point score in the penultimate heat when he raced away from the tapes to hold off home skipper Iversen.
With a place in the next round already secure, it was down to Batchelor and Bjerre to end the night on a high and enter Monday’s meeting with as much confidence as possible.
They did just that, team-riding for four laps to leave neither Adams nor Zengota any room to get through, giving the Panthers a comfortable 99-86 aggregate victory. It was a fantastic display from the Panthers, and offered a timely confidence boost ahead of the crucial meeting against the Bees.
Team manager Trevor Swales said: “It was a brilliant performance from the boys. There was not one member of the team that didn’t pull his weight tonight, which is good to see ahead of Monday.
“Troy was fantastic, and he won the big heats at the end too, which isn’t easy. Norbert Kosciuch came back well from injury, Rory, Niels and Krzysztof all scored well and Dak North outscored both of the Swindon reserves. He was riding against experienced Elite League riders and he was beating them fair and square, he didn’t get any gifts.”
“We needed a big performance before Monday and we certainly got it. The track was excellent and we were really sharp all the way through, and we have to carry that through to the play-off meeting now.
“We shouldn’t forget, however, that we are now through to the KO Cup semi-finals and we have a great chance of silverware here, so it has been a good night all round.”
He added, finally: “We know how tough it’s going to be on Monday, but we’re up for it. We were excellent for 12 heats at Coventry and if we show that form, rather than the form of the last three heats, then we can definitely do it. It is a lot to make up, but we can do it.”