WHATEVER happens in the final week of fixtures ahead of the Elite League cut-off, the Buildbase Bees have certainly injected new life into the season - and this was quite possibly the match of the year so far.
The top four have looked to be locked into place for so many weeks now, even during an improvement in Coventry's form which appeared merely to be moving them away from the danger of becoming involved in the relegation race-off.
The position suddenly altered when Peterborough suffered that shock home defeat against Eastbourne on Bank Holiday Monday - and now it is well and truly game on after the Bees emerged victorious in a terrific showdown at the Showground between two sides who were almost perfectly matched.
In the final analysis, a faulty silencer proved to be the difference - that and a typically gutsy ride from skipper Chris Harris in Heat 15 as the Bees secured the 5-1 they needed.
Pre-match talk had centred on which of the two sides had benefited the most from the mid-season changes which included Lewis Bridger's arrival at Brandon and Rory Schlein's move in the opposite direction. The reality is that both teams' fortunes have improved significantly, only for the Panthers to suddenly lose momentum in the last week or so - and it is the Bees who are on the march, with Bridger doubtless enjoying his return to the Showground as he and super-talented Przemyslaw Pawlicki giving their side real strength in depth at reserve, and dominating that department.
Nobody expected anything other than a close fixture, and the early stages gave little clue as to which side would emerge on top. Panthers were certainly the happier after Heat 1, despite being outgated by both Krzysztof Kasprzak and Richard Sweetman, but Kenneth Bjerre surged inside Kasprzak on he third bend to take the lead, whilst Krzysztof Buczkowski retrieved third place from Sweetman around the outside to give Peterborough an opening 4-2.
Mathieu Tresarrieu has developed a habit of winning Heat 2 since joining the Panthers in the mid-season re-shuffle, and he did so again on this occasion by holding off the early challenge of Bridger with Pawlicki gaining track experience in third place ahead of Norbert Kosciuch.
Bees always knew that one of the keys to victory was going to be if they could avoid serious damage against the strong Panthers combination of Schlein and Niels-Kristian Iversen, and it was mission accomplished in Heat 3 with Kennett making it nicely around the outside of Iversen off the second bend and proceeded to win in a quicker time than Bjerre, with Schlein snatching third from Ben Barker also early in the race.
The visitors gained the big race advantage they needed in Heat 4, with Pawlicki out-trapping Troy Batchelor as Harris initially had to get the better of Kosciuch. As the Bees captain moved into third place, Batchelor got things wrong on the second lap and came down, and although he was unable to clear the track before the race was stopped, there was no second chance taken by Kosciuch in the re-run as Harris and Pawlicki stormed clear to put their side into a narrow lead.
Heat 5 proved to be another excellent race for the visitors as both Kasprzak and Sweetman shot away from the start, and although Schlein made a strong move to split the pairing on the second lap he could not get to grips with Kasprzak, and Sweetman held a vital third place over Iversen for a Bees 4-2 - quite a scalp for the young Aussie on the Dane's home circuit.
There then followed a run of Peterborough race wins, but Bees kept packing the minor places and prevented the hosts from making serious progress. First of those races was Heat 6 when Bjerre went clear early on as Harris and Bridger working together to stop the exciting efforts of Buczkowski at the back - the Bees closing ranks just in time off the last bend just when it looked like the Pole might go between them.
Batchelor got his night going with a win in Heat 7 under race-long pressure from Kennett, with Barker holding the third place - and although it looked like the Panthers had halved the deficit in Heat 8 when Buczkowski won a wheel-to-wheel duel with Pawlicki into the third bend, the race result was in fact delayed for some time pending an investigation into third-placed Tresarrieu. The Frenchman was eventually disqualified for having a faulty silencer, handing the point to Sweetman instead, and Bees maintained their four-point advantage.
The ninth race was shared too, and yet again there was no big breakthrough for the Iversen/Schlein combination as on this occasion Iversen hit the front but Schlein was mired at the back, kept there by Harris and Bridger.
But the Panthers did finally get what they wanted in Heat 10, and on the form of the evening it did look the most likely source, as Bjerre and Buczkowski both made good starts, and despite the close challenge of Barker for much of the race, the home side had their 5-1 which took the meeting into the final, decisive five heats with the scores all level.
The tension seemed to increase with every race, and there was no breakthrough in Heat 11 as Batchelor prevented serious damage for the Panthers as he held off Kasprzak throughout, whilst Tresarrieu ground to a halt at the back.
But in the final analysis, Heat 12 proved crucial as the Bees edged back in front. Bridger had been solid on his Showground return, but this time he was superb in making sure that Schlein did not complete a third-to-first move, the former Coventry man having moved ahead of Pawlicki after the Bees gated well again. Bridger rode all the right lines to win, Pawlicki held third over Kosciuch, and the Bees had a two-point lead to defend.
Heat 13 was a thriller as the big guns clashed, and just when Bjerre was looking unbeatable Kasprzak conjured a fabulous start from gate two to clamp off the Dane, and with all four riders in close attendance throughout and Batchelor holding second place, Harris threw everything at Bjerre for third place, so nearly squeezing through off the final bend only for Bjerre to almost bounce off the fence and take it by a whisker.
Still Bees led by two, and their prospects looked distinctly rosy as Pawlicki and Kennett raced into the lead of Heat 14 with more good gating - only for Kennett to find himself caught in mid-track as both Iversen and Kosciuch piled through into the third bend. Crucially, Pawlicki was away from this action and rode with great maturity to repel Iversen - his win put the Bees into the last race ahead, and also gave manager Alun Rossiter a dilemma as to who to deploy in Heat 15 with Kasprzak.
Despite Pawlicki's heroics, Rossiter went for the experience of Harris as the final heat line-up was identical to Heat 13, albeit with the Panthers winning the toss they took gates two and four and thus avoided Kasprzak repeating his first-bend move from the previous race.
That said, it still looked good for the Bees from the gate as although Bjerre emerged from the early scramble in front, Batchelor didn't make it from the outside - but then he cut back on the back straight, got the inside line going and dramatically surged inside both Harris and Kasprzak. The Bees duo switched back themselves and the three riders flashed into lap two neck-and-neck, with Kasprzak re-taking second place and Harris third - only for Batchelor to turn back once more and re-take Harris. That was the pattern for the next two laps as Harris and Batchelor contested a thriller, and at the start of lap three the Bees skipper almost ran into the back wheel of his opponent, but as lap four got underway Harris had got control of the situation, and the final lap proceeded with the Bees fans counting down to the chequered flag. The situation remained unchanged, Kasprzak and Harris took the second and third they needed, and the Bees' Elite League season is still alive.
Alive even more so, given the late news which was that Lakeside had been held to a home draw by Swindon, and that makes it a case of two from three to be determined over the next two matches. Next stop Belle Vue...
