PETERBOROUGH'S Bank Holiday double got off to the worst possible start with a crushing home defeat at the hands of Coventry.
The Readypower Panthers suffered an almost collective nightmare at the Showground against the most impressive-looking Bees team to visit the Showground in some years, with the visitors’ Polish trio all revelling in the open spaces.
In fact, the home side could provide just four heat winners all afternoon, and three of those came from skipper Kenneth Bjerre who won his first trio of outings.
5-1s to Coventry in Heats 4 and 7 put them into a ten-point lead and into control of the meeting, although Panthers gained some respite with a fine ride by Patrick Hougaard to snatch a Heat 8 win on the line from Olly Allen.
But when Linus Sundstrom went for double-points in the next race, he was left at the back as Scott Nicholls and Aaron Summers banked maximum points for the Bees.
The second tactical ride was far more successful as Bjerre and Nicolai Klindt combined for a big 8-1 which gave the Panthers a glimmer of hope as they trailed by seven points with five heats to go.
But Coventry quickly regained the initiative with a brace of 4-2s, Krzysztof Kasprzak proving a particularly strong performer, and a 5-1 from Kasprzak and Scott Nicholls in Heat 13 secured their victory.
Ride of the day arguably came from Bees reserve Michal Szczepaniak in Heat 14 as he made his way around Sundstrom and then inside Hougaard to take the win, with Nicholls and Kasprzak multiplying Panthers’ misery with a 5-1 in the last.
PETERBOROUGH 37: Kenneth Bjerre 12, Patrick Hougaard 7, Linus Sundstrom 6+1, Kenni Larsen 5, Ryan Fisher 3+2, Nicolai Klindt 2+1, Dakota North 2.
COVENTRY 56: Krzysztof Kasprzak 13+1, Scott Nicholls 12+2, Michal Szczepaniak 10+1, Grzegorz Zengota 9+1, Aaron Summers 5+2, Olly Allen 4+1, Stuart Robson 3.