PETERBOROUGH stretched their winning SGB Championship run by seeing off Scunthorpe in a terrific East of England Arena clash on Tuesday night.
A four-ride maximum by number one Jack Holder - and sparkling displays from Chris Harris and skipper Ulrich Ostergaard - helped the 'T Balfe Construction' Panthers to a 51-39 success.
A brilliant last-to-first surge from Holder in heat 13 was arguably the highlight of a meeting which threw up a host of spectacular races. Partner Harris delivered his own blast into second place in that contest to clinch a 5-1 which left Peterborough on the brink of victory. A fourth consecutive triumph was clinched when Ostergaard took the wide line to glory in the penultimate race and the captain, who only suffered one defeat by an opponent, then joined forces with Harris to hold off Jake Allen in a re-run finale as both Peterborough riders finished with 12+1 hauls.
It was an impressive end to the first of two battles between the sides this week. They meet again on Friday when clashing at the Eddie Wright Raceway in the second leg of a KO Cup quarter-final.
“It’s important to keep picking up the wins,” said Ostergaard. “We need to keep building momentum and getting results for the fans.
“We’ve said all along that our full team is one of the best in the SGB Championship and everyone can now see that.
“It was great to for Jack get a maximum and I could have had one myself. I made a little mistake in heat nine after I had actually passed Josh Auty and that cost me a couple of points, but it was still a good night.
“Scunthorpe pushed us really hard on our own track and we know another tough meeting lies ahead at their place on Friday. “It didn’t go too well for us there last time when we lost in the league and we’ll need everyone firing. We’d all love to win more silverware.”
Peterborough briefly fell behind after Josh Bailey’s victory inspired a 4-2 for Scunthorpe in heat two, but they quickly wiped out their arrears when Ostergaard and Paul Starke replied in the next race.
A 5-1 from Holder and Bradley Wilson-Dean in heat six fired Peterborough ahead for the first time and they retained their advantage from then on.
Scunthorpe remained in contention until the hosts kicked clear with two 5-1s in the closing three races.
Peterborough will be without Holder when they go to Scunthorpe in the KO Cup.
He competes in the closing round of the World Under 21 Championship on the same night. Glasgow man Richie Worrall has been drafted in as a guest.
SCORES PETERBOROUGH: Chris Harris 12+1, Ulrich Ostergaard 12+1, Jack Holder 12 (max), Paul Starke 6, Bradley Wilson-Dean 4+1, Tom Bacon 3+3, Simon Lambert 2.
SCUNTHORPE: Jake Allen 10+1, Josh Auty 7, Ryan Douglas 6+2, Tero Aarnio 5+1, Lewis Kerr 4+1, Michael Palm Toft 4, Josh Bailey 3.