PETERBOROUGH enjoyed another awesome away day to climb back into third place in the Premier League.
Number one Craig Cook, Danish ace Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen and reserve Ashley Morris all produced double-figures scores to lead the ‘T Balfe Construction’ Panthers to a 50-40 victory at Berwick last night.
It was a fifth league triumph on the road and the third time Peterborough have secured all four available points this season – and they did it with a race to spare at Shielfield Park.
Team boss Carl Johnson said: “You’re always going to be in with a chance of winning a meeting when you have three riders going so well.
“Craig was nothing short of outstanding, Nikolaj really excelled in the number four slot after we tweaked the riding order and Ashley had a great night at reserve with his best meeting for the club so far.
“It was an excellent all-round performance in all honesty with the other guys also chipping in with valuable points to help us pick up a result that gives our play-off hopes a huge boost.
“We’re not there yet by any means, but this is certainly a big step in the right direction.”
The opening seven races were shared last night with Peterborough providing the winner in five of them.
But the deadlock was eventually broken when Emil Grondal led home Morris for a 5-1 in heat eight before Peterborough eased further clear when Busk Jakobsen and Tom Perry secured a 4-2 in a heat 10 re-run after Bandits rider Dawid Stachyra tumbled out of the initial staging.
A further 5-1 from Morris and Perry in heat 12 left the visitors 10 points to the good and on the brink of a victory secured when Cook stretched his winning run to four races by working his way through from last to first in a shared 13th heat.
And Peterborough swiftly secured maximum points when Busk Jakobsen inspired a 4-2 in the penultimate race with Morris back in third.
Cook missed out on a maximum when seeing his winning streak ended by Berwick man Kevin Doolan in the finale, but that was just a minor source of irritation on a marvellous night for Peterborough on their travels.
They hit the road against next Sunday (August 21) when travelling to Brough Park to take on a Newcastle side hoping to gatecrash the play-off places.
A return clash against the Diamonds follows at the East of England Showground on Friday, August 26.
The club are still working to finalise a new date for the trip to Edinburgh which was postponed on Friday.
SCORES
BERWICK: Kevin Doolan 12, Thomas Jorgensen 7+2, Matthew Wethers 6+1, Theo Pijper 6, Danny Gappmaier 4+2, Liam Carr 4+1, Dawid Stachyra 1+1.
PETERBOROUGH ‘T BALFE CONSTRUCTION’ PANTHERS: Craig Cook 14, Ashley Morris 11+1, Nikolaj B Jakobsen 11, Ulrich Ostergaard 6+1, Tom Perry 4+2, Emil Grondal 3, Zdenek Holub 1+1.
