Peterborough Panthers 54 Coventry Bees 37 Midland League
Despite having no Showground action for 6 weeks, Panthers proved far too strong against the Bees, completing a home and away double to continue their winning start in the Midland League.
Although early on Coventry kept things tight the Panthers stepped up a gear during the middle and later stages to comfortably defeat their Midland rivals.
The Bees cause wasn’t helped by the loss of Rory Schlein after three rides as he was forced to withdraw after picking up a knee injury, but Chris Harris and Oliver Allen aside they had little stop the flow with Panthers all round strength very evident, especially at reserve.
Harris showed he meant business with a brisk start in the opener and although Dryml provided the early chase it was Iversen who took up the challenge although Harris never looked in any real danger.
Vissing made the better start to head heat 2 with Bager joining him for the first Panthers maximum after pulling clear of the Bees reserves.
Any hopes that this was going to be an easy match were quickly dashed as Allen and Kennett shot away to lead the third, Bjerre got the better of an early duel with Kennett, but by the time he got by Allen was well gone.
Frampton surprised everyone by leading the 4th but was passed early on by Korneliussen, it looked like another Panthers advantage but Schlein, who hadn’t started very well gradually wore down Bager and passed him to ensure a share of the points.
Harris made another great start to lead the 5th but Bjerre quickly took him coming off the second bend and held on for an impressive win with Harris chasing him hard all the way.
Schlein was the early leader of heat 6 but Iversen managed to slip inside him on the third bend of the opening lap and then promptly put his back wheel on the dirt line to keep Schlein behind him.
Another good start by Allen saw him lead the 7th but his partner Kennett lost his way at the start of lap 2 coming to grief as he slid into in the air fence causing the race to be stopped. Nevertheless Allen made another good start to win the rerun despite early pressure from flying reserve Claus Vissing.
The deadlock was somewhat broken by a heat 8 maximum as Panthers stretched their lead to 8 points as Dryml headed home early leader Bager, that advantage was increased with another 5-1 in heat 9 but Hansen was made to work hard as he battled first Schlein and then Jacobsen to join Bjerre up front, establishing a 12 point lead for the first time.
Heat 10 was delayed as medical staff attended to an injured Schlein who had been hit by flying shale and Panthers wisely brought forward the interval.
After the break Coventry attempted a tactical with the unbeaten Allen donning the black and white, instead it was team mate Kennett shot away with Iversen managing to restrict the Bees advantage by pegging Allen back to third.
Chris Harris showed good recent form to again lead heat 11 with most of the challenge coming from Vissing early on as Korneliussen dealt with Barker.
The impressive Vissing was out again in heat 12 this time for the struggling Hansen and he made short work of the start to win from Allen with Bager closing out Frampton for third spot.
Iversen gained some revenge for his earlier defeat by lowering Harris colours in heat 13 with Panthers extending their lead with with their second consecutive 4-2.
Frampton’s bike gave up the ghost at the start of heat 14 leaving tactical Edward Kennett to go it alone, Kennet led initially but was caught and passed Bjerre on lap 1 and Vissing at the start of lap 2 to ensure a miserable night by his recent standards.
Harris gained some consolation with his third win of the night after an initial close tussle with Bjerre and Iversen, but with Allen pegged at the rear the race points were shared with Panthers 17 point winning margin very convincing and fully deserved.
Bjerre and Iversen led from the front with the bonus coming from Claus Vissing whose recent move to the reserve berth certainly paying off in this match.
Their were steady returns from everyone else with the exception of Hansen who was clearly rusty from his recent lay off, but everyone contributed to at least one win or paid win.
Panthers now face the Wolves head to head with the first leg at the Showground next week.