PETERBOROUGH and Birmingham fought out a thrilling 45-45 draw in one of the matches of the Elite League season at the Showground on Monday.
Both sides will feel they should have won the meeting, but both sets of supporters will have left relatively happy after a night of spectacular racing, with the result of the decisive Heat 15 in the balance right up until the chequered flag.
The Readypower Panthers saw a comfortable eight-point lead erased by a strong Birmingham comeback in the second half of proceedings, but the home side dug deep in the closing stages to ensure that at least they came away with a point.
They do, though, have a major injury concern over Ryan Fisher, as the American star suffered an ankle injury in the first race of the night and was unable to take any further part, leaving him doubtful for the trip to King’s Lynn on Wednesday.
Reserves Dakota North and Patrick Hougaard worked hard to cover for Fisher, with Hougaard particularly effective, and it was they who put the Panthers ahead with a comprehensive 5-1 in Heat 2.
A further advantage could have come their way two races later when race leader Josh Auty spectacularly fell at the end of the second lap, but with a re-start ordered rather than the result being awarded it was Chris Harris who worked his way to the front to share the race for the visitors.
Panthers, though, gradually built their lead with successive 4-2s in Heats 6, 7 and 8 with Hougaard riding a smart race to pip Ben Barker for victory in the seventh.
Panthers led 31-23 after nine, but they suffered a setback in Heat 10 when the previously unbeaten Kenneth Bjerre threw a rear-chain on the start-line, enabling Danny King and Barker to go clear for a 5-1 – and suddenly the match was all-square after the next race when Jason Doyle shot from the start and Martin Smolinski made it past Joonas Kylmakorpi on the third lap for another maximum advantage.
The Brummies were in the ascendancy and added 4-2s in the next two races to go ahead 41-37, although it could have been worse but for Bjerre splitting Harris and Doyle in Heat 13.
Even so, the Panthers needed a big response and they got it in a terrific Heat 14 with all four riders going into the third bend together, Hougaard emerging in front and Krzysztof Buczkowski then getting the better of Auty and Barker to level the scores with one race to go.
The decider was an epic contest with Bjerre and Hougaard gating for the Panthers only for Harris to surge past on the back straight and then resist Bjerre’s constant inside attacks. The Dane did, though, get inside Harris going into the last lap – just as Hougaard lost third place to Danny King, but the places were to swap yet again as Harris re-passed Bjerre and Hougaard crucially switched back inside King and won the race to the flag for third place.
Panthers co-promoter Trevor Swales said: “There was some great racing, but once again it’s points dropped for us and so that has to be disappointing.
“We seemed to lose our way from around Heats 10 and 11 and we need to look at the reasons for that. It’s a good thing Patrick got the third place in Heat 15 to at least give us a draw and now we’ll see what we can do at King’s Lynn on Wednesday.”
PETERBOROUGH 45: Patrick Hougaard 13+3, Kenneth Bjerre 10, Krzysztof Buczkowski 7+2, Dakota North 6, Norbert Kosciuch 5+1, Joonas Kylmakorpi 4, Ryan Fisher 0.
BIRMINGHAM 45: Chris Harris 14, Martin Smolinski 9+1, Danny King 9, Jason Doyle 5+1, Ben Barker 5+1, Josh Auty 2, Nico Covatti 1.