PETERBOROUGH’S dramatic play-off bid remains on course as they collected all four league points from a 50-40 win at Coventry.
The Readypower Panthers dominated the Brandon race victories and although the home side did, as expected, give a better performance than in their Showground thrashing on Friday, an away win always looked on the cards.
The important factor was to win by more than six points for the maximum addition to their Elite League total, and that result was duly secured by a 5-1 from Patrick Hougaard and Krzysztof Buczkowski in Heat 14.
Hougaard was again immense at reserve, the Dane winning four of his five rides and only missing out to a 5-1 from home duo Kozza Smith and Scott Nicholls in Heat 4 with the Coventry skipper making it around the outside on the fourth bend.
Buczkowski kept up his fine run of form too with arguably his best display at Brandon, whilst Ryan Fisher was full of excitement and twice combined with skipper Kenneth Bjerre for 5-1s which ensured Panthers led through most of the early stages.
Meanwhile Joonas Kylmakorpi ran a last in his first ride but then reeled off three straight wins to give the visitors five strong scorers as Norbert Kosciuch found the going tough on his return from injury, and Dakota North was affected by a heavy Heat 2 spill.
Fisher was involved in 5-1s in each of his first three races and the third, which came in Heat 8 alongside Hougaard, put Panthers eight points to the good and in control of the meeting.
Coventry attempted a comeback but Buczkowski importantly split Krzysztof Kasprzak and Michal Szczepaniak with an inside pass in Heat 10, although the winning run of Bjerre and Fisher was ended by a stunning effort by Nicholls in the next race.
But Panthers then made sure of their success with back-to-back 4-2s in Heats 12 and 13, Kylmakorpi winning the latter with a trademark outside move off the second bend, and then the big 5-1 in the penultimate race which made Coventry’s own maximum in Heat 15 a mere consolation.
Panthers co-boss Ryan Sullivan said: “It was a crucial match tonight, the boys knew what they had to do and they came and did it.
“A couple of guys had trouble and Dak had a nasty crash in his first ride, but there were some outstanding performances in the rest of the team. They were making great starts, great first bends, riding very hard and riding as a team.
“Getting all four points was the crucial thing, and with Dak and Norbi struggling I was worried about Heat 12, but Patrick came in and did a great race there.”
COVENTRY 40: Krzysztof Kasprzak 10+1, Scott Nicholls 9+2, Grzegorz Zengota 7+1, Kozza Smith 6, Aaron Summers 4, Michal Szczepaniak 3, Hugh Skidmore 1+1.
PETERBOROUGH 50: Patrick Hougaard 13, Ryan Fisher 9+3, Krzysztof Buczkowski 9+1, Joonas Kylmakorpi 9, Kenneth Bjerre 8+1, Norbert Kosciuch 2, Dakota North 0.