PETERBOROUGH have a fresh injury concern after Kenneth Bjerre crashed out of Thursday’s home win against King’s Lynn.
The Readypower Panthers skipper clashed with team-mate Norbert Kosciuch in Heat 1 and after receiving treatment at the stadium was taken to hospital with a suspected broken right leg.
With Panthers already without injured new signing Tomas H. Jonasson and subsequently having to revert back to rider-replacement for Olly Allen, this left them with just five men and facing a tough task for the remainder of the night against the play-offs chasing Stars.
But those five remaining riders responded magnificently to register a famous victory over their near-neighbours and play-off rivals.
They had Norbert Kosciuch largely to thank on a busy night for him with a full seven-ride programme returning a 15+2 score and the Pole had plenty of support from his fellow countryman Krzysztof Buczkowski who stormed to an excellent 13+2. There were also good contributions from Linus Sundstrom (12) and Richard Lawson who was also kept busy with 8+2 from his seven outings.
The Panthers recovered from Bjerre’s loss and the eventual 5-1 defeat in the re-run of Heat 1 by quickly levelling things up with a Kosciuch and Lawson maximum in Heat 2.
Kosciuch and Buczkowski then put them four-points ahead with another 5-1 in Heat 4 and Lawson and Kosciuch followed that up when increasing the home advantage to eight with a five-pointer in race six.
Buczkowski then featured in back-to-back wins over the next two heats as the Panthers incredibly stretched further ahead (30-18).
The Stars staged a bit of a fightback as Mads Korneliussen scored six-points as a tactical ride in Heat 10 and one race later Kevin Wolbert and former Panther Niels Kristian Iversen reduced the overall deficit to five when they scored a 5-1 over Buczkowski.
But the Panthers held firm as Buczkowski and Lawson then put them in touch of what earlier looked an unlikely victory with a 4-2 in Heat 13.
Leading by seven the win was almost theirs and it was confirmed with the final two races shared. The three Elite League points gained moves the Panthers to just three behind fourth-placed Lakeside, who they face on Friday night in Essex.
Panthers co-team boss Jan Staechmann said: “It was a big blow losing Kenneth so early on, but every one of the guys responded magnificently.
“We’re not sure how bad the injury is yet, but we’ll know more on that later and will update everyone as soon as we can.
“Naturally we hope it’s not too bad and wish him a speedy recovery.
“The two reserves of Norbert and Richard were both kept busy having seven rides each, but all the remaining five riders dug deep and helped pull off a very big victory.
“We lose as a team and win as a team and this victory was for Kenneth.”
PETERBOROUGH 50: Norbert Koscuich 15+2, Krzysztof Buczkowski 13+2, Linus Sundstrom 12, Richard Lawson 8+2, Michael Jepsen Jensen 2+2, Kenneth Bjerre 0, Olly Allen R/R.
KING’S LYNN 43: Mads Korneliussen 13, Niels Kristian Iversen 10+1, Kevin Wolbert 8+1, Maciej Janowski 5+2, Daniel Nermark 3+1, Ulrich Ostergaard 2+1, Mateusz Szczepaniak 2.