A much-improved East Anglian derby display was not enough to end Peterborough’s losing run on Thursday night.
The ‘T Balfe Construction’ Panthers were beaten 52-41 at high-flying Ipswich in an SGB Championship clash at Foxhall Stadium – a considerable improvement on their 28-point drubbing at the same venue back in April.
Top duo Chris Harris and Jack Holder led the way with double-figure contributions while Paul Starke offered his usual solid support from the middle order.
Those three men shared the four race wins provided by Peterborough and all of them inspired advantages, including when Harris cashed in a tactical ride in heat five.
Holder claimed two victories (in heats nine and 15) and Starke took the chequered flag when winning the 12th contest.
Team boss Carl Johnson said: “We didn’t manage to get the win, but we were competitive and I couldn’t have asked for a lot more considering we again had riders missing.
“We lost the meeting early on with a poor start. It got away from us and it is very hard to play catch-up against a team going so well and with such a big home advantage.
“But it was a vast improvement on the performance we produced at Ipswich back in April when losing so heavily.
“Chris and Jack both rode really well and ‘Starkey’ gave them some good support, which included a win in his last ride.
“It’s not a track that Jack likes so he was very pleased with a couple of wins and a big haul of points.
“Of course we’re all disappointed with the run of defeats, but we’ve been to some tough tracks and haven’t been able to track a full team in any of the five meetings.
“But we’re looking forward to a decent run of home fixtures and we’ll be looking to put things right and string a few results together.”
Peterborough were undoubtedly hit hard by the absence of Bradley Wilson-Dean at Ipswich due to injury. He piled up a double-figures haul at the Suffolk venue earlier in the season.
And reserve guest James Sarjeant – in for Simon Lambert - could only manage 4+1 from a full shift of seven rides at a track where he raced regularly throughout 2016.
Ipswich were blessed with a more prolific guest as Mason Campton – a team-mate of Sarjeant at Workington – top-scored with paid 13 for the hosts when replacing the injured Kyle Newman.
Rory Schlein added a four-ride maximum for the hosts although Johnson felt the Australian should have been excluded following a first-bend spill in his opening ride.
Peterborough return to action on Wednesday (August 30) when entertaining Newcastle in an eagerly awaited first SGB Championship home meeting for five-and-a-half weeks.
SCORES IPSWICH: Mason Campton (guest) 12+1, Rory Schlein 12, Danny King 11, Nathan Greaves 7, Cameron Heeps 6+2, Connor Mountain 4, Rider replacement for Justin Sedgmen.
PETERBOROUGH: Chris Harris 12+1, Jack Holder 12, Paul Starke 8+1, James Sarjeant (guest) 4+1, Ulrich Ostergaard 4, Tom Bacon 1, Rider replacement for Bradley Wilson-Dean.
