PETERBOROUGH’S Charles Wright made an impressive start to the season with second place in Sunday’s Ben Fund Bonanza at Leicester.
Wright provided plenty of entertainment in the fund-raising event and just missed out to former Panthers No.1 Scott Nicholls in an exciting Final.
He won three of his first four rides in impressive style, dropping his only point to Danny King in Heat 12.
A third place in a super-competitive Heat 19 saw Wright battle fiercely with Nicholls and Josh Bates, and it was enough to take him into the Final direct.
When Nicholls made an error on the third lap and slid wide, Wright nearly had the opportunity to pass, but the former British Champion closed the door firmly on turn three and Wright had to settle for second ahead of King.
Meanwhile Ben Barker started the meeting in fine form with five points from his first two rides, but he then broke the tapes in Heat 12 which proved costly for his challenge.
Barker was only able to add one more point from his final two outings, which left him outside the qualifiers for the semi-final.
BEN FUND BONANZA, Leicester SCORES: Scott Nicholls 13, Danny King 12, Charles Wright 12, Josh Bates 11, Sam Masters 10, Ryan Douglas 9, Richie Worrall 9, Paul Starke 8, Lewis Kerr 6, Ben Barker 6, Kasper Andersen 6, Zaine Kennedy 5, Connor Mountain (res) 4, Ellis Perks (res) 4, Ulrich Ostergaard 3, Jedd List 2, Nick Morris 0, Josh Auty 0. SEMI-FINAL: Masters, Worrall, Douglas, Bates (ret) FINAL: Nicholls, Wright, King, Masters (ret)