AWAYDAYS surely don’t come much better than this as the Buildbase Bees enjoyed a sunshine stroll at the Showground to secure their first win on the road this season.
It was an emphatic performance from the visitors, whose top two were in blistering form and who received back-up all the way down the order against a Panthers side who had clocked up 59 points on their last home outing.
Track conditions clearly affected the home riders more than the Bees, with the warm daytime conditions meaning slick and dusty was the order of the day. But Coventry simply got on with the job, and the end result was their biggest away win since the 63-32 demolition of Poole at Wimborne Road in April 2009.
Eleven heat wins on an away circuit is a stunning feat, and the Panthers were grateful to Kenneth Bjerre for providing three of their four to prevent an even bigger hiding.
Bjerre won Heat 1, with no hint of what was to follow as Krzysztof Kasprzak had to work his way past Nicolai Klindt in the early stages, but the Panthers struck early trouble when Patrick Hougaard fell heavily in Heat 2 as he battled with the Coventry duo.
Hougaard walked away but Michal Szczepaniak dominated the re-run, although Dakota North took second place having been at the back in the initial staging.
Heat 3 provided plenty of drama early on with Linus Sundstrom leading but getting it wrong off turn four as Grzegorz Zengota shot to the front. The confusion briefly promoted Stuart Robson into second place but the Panthers swept either side of him to protect a 3-3 in a competitive race.
Szczepaniak’s gating was to the fore again in Heat 4 and there was a spectacular burst from skipper Scott Nicholls to dive inside Kenni Larsen into the third bend, setting up the first big 5-1 of the day for the Bees.
The next two races were shared as Kasprzak produced a terrific ride in Heat 5 to sweep around the outside of Sundstrom on turns three and four, whilst Heat 6 saw Nicholls and Aaron Summers pack in ahead of Klindt with Bjerre well clear.
But the next race was another triumph for the Bees with Larsen swamped by Zengota and Robson in the early stages for another Coventry 5-1, all of which put the Panthers into tactical ride territory.
They didn’t take that option for Heat 8, preferring to switch Klindt for North, and the move looked like going horribly wrong until a tight inside line from the previously non-scoring Hougaard took him initially past Szczepaniak and then, on the run to the finish, Olly Allen to share the race.
Still ten-down, Sundstrom was deployed on the double in Heat 9 but the Panthers got exactly what they didn’t want when the Swede missed the start, Nicholls got ahead of Ryan Fisher and then, to the delight of the Bees fans, Summers dived inside Fisher on the way into the third bend on lap three to open up a 14-point lead for the visitors.
The Panthers simply had to respond in Heat 10 and they did with Bjerre on double-points, and he was joined at the front by Klindt who had previously run two last places. Zengota and Robson could not find an answer, and Bees knew they still had to be careful after the interval with their lead down to seven.
But with the in-form Kasprzak in three of the last five races, they did have a measure of control, although the Pole was out-gated by Larsen he quickly sized up an overtake and made his way through with Allen supplying an important third place ahead of Hougaard who appeared to have started well.
Bees kept it going in Heat 12 with Zengota conjuring a spectacular start from the outside to lead whilst Summers again got the better of Fisher, this time for third place with a brave outside move midway through the race.
Peterborough then required three 5-1s to turn the match around, but that simply was not going to happen, and Coventry’s big two made all four points virtually certain with a maximum of their own in Heat 13, Kasprzak being out in front and Nicholls bouncing off the fence and then switching inside to leave Bjerre and Larsen adrift in third and fourth places.
Finally in Heat 14 two Panthers riders made the start, but Szczepaniak wasn’t having any of it as he went right to the fence off turn four to round Sundstrom, and then cut back to move inside Hougaard for a superb race win.
And the finishing touch was applied by Kasprzak in Heat 15 as, with Nicholls well ahead, the Pole dived inside Larsen going into the third lap to again team up with his partner for a 5-1.
There was little time for lengthy celebrations given that the evening meeting was to start in under four hours, but the Bees lapped up the acclaim from a bumper travelling support, and after the home wins over Lakeside and Eastbourne had got them on the Elite League scoreboard, this performance and result certainly indicated they are very much back in business.
PETERBOROUGH 37: Kenneth Bjerre 12, Patrick Hougaard 7, Linus Sundstrom 6+1, Kenni Larsen 5, Ryan Fisher 3+2, Nicolai Klindt 2+1, Dakota North 2.
BUILDBASE BEES 56: Krzysztof Kasprzak 13+1, Scott Nicholls 12+2, Michal Szczepaniak 10+1, Grzegorz Zengota 9+1, Aaron Summers 5+2, Oliver Allen 4+1, Stuart Robson 3.
