COVENTRY were unable to prevent Peterborough from extending their remarkable late-season run of form – as the visitors took a 50-40 win from an entertaining Bank Holiday fixture at Brandon.
The Buildbase Bees at least showed more spark than in their woeful defeat at the Showground on Friday, but they ran into a team on top of their game who have recently also tasted victory at both Poole and Swindon, as well as coming close at Birmingham.
Gating was once again a prime concern for the Bees, although some good track craft on occasions allowed them to gain positions, none more so than skipper Scott Nicholls who produced one of the rides of the season in Heat 11.
But in the final analysis Bees could provide just five of the fifteen race wins, and one of those came courtesy of a 5-1 in the final heat when the Panthers had already secured maximum points from the meeting.
The visitors opened well with a 5-1 from the prolific Kenneth Bjerre/Ryan Fisher pairing, but suffered a setback when Dakota North crashed heavily in Heat 2 after clipping Bees guest Kozza Smith as they exited turn four.
North’s contribution was clearly affected by that incident but flying reserve Patrick Hougaard won the re-run, before a decent Bees fightback as Grzegorz Zengota hit the front from the outside gate in Heat 3 and both Smith and Nicholls moved past Hougaard on the first lap of Heat 4 for a 5-1.
That briefly put Coventry two points to the good but Fisher pounced on a slight slip from Zengota in the next race to join Bjerre up-front and restore the Panthers’ lead.
Visiting riders won five races in succession between Heats 5 and 9 and it was Heat 8 which was especially damaging as Fisher and Hougaard shot from the tapes and raced clear of Smith and Michal Szczepaniak.
Peterborough led by eight points after nine, and when Bees gated on a 5-1 in Heat 10 Krzysztof Buczkowski managed to split Krzysztof Kasprzak and Szczepaniak by coming through on the inside.
Bjerre and Fisher looked set to take a third maximum as a pairing in Heat 11 but Nicholls was having none of it, and having rounded Bjerre midway through the race he cut back on Fisher to go through on the inside – having to complete the move twice as Fisher squeezed him going down the main straight. The Coventry skipper finally took the lead for good going into the last bend, and it was a terrific effort.
Sadly, it didn’t lead to a major Bees comeback as Smith crashed out of second place in Heat 12 allowing Hougaard to head up a Panthers’ 4-2, a result matched in the next race when Kylmakorpi used the outside to good effect off turn two and Nicholls was blocked out of third place by Bjerre.
Buczkowski and Hougaard wrapped things up with a clear 5-1 in Heat 14 although there was a final Coventry response with Nicholls taking Kylmakorpi wide on the first bend of the last race and then, along with Kasprzak, going either side of Fisher on the back straight to hit the front.
But the Panthers were worthy winners on the night and the four points they gained gives them real hope of pipping the likes of Lakeside and Poole to the final play-off place.
Nicholls said: “You’re never happy to lose, and that’s been the story too many times this season although it was a great meeting to watch.
“It would have been much nicer to have won it, but Peterborough are the side in form right now. They’re doing an early-season Birmingham – on paper they maybe don’t look the strongest outfit, but the way everyone is riding they’re high on confidence and that’s such a big part of speedway.
“Credit where credit is due, they came here and beat us. We put up a good fight but it wasn’t enough.â€
BUILDBASE BEES 40: Krzysztof Kasprzak 10+1, Scott Nicholls 9+2, Grzegorz Zengota 7+1, Kozza Smith 6, Aaron Summers 4, Michal Szczepaniak 3, Hugh Skidmore 1+1.
PETERBOROUGH 50: Patrick Hougaard 13, Ryan Fisher 9+3, Krzysztof Buczkowski 9+1, Joonas Kylmakorpi 9, Kenneth Bjerre 8+1, Norbert Kosciuch 2, Dakota North 0.
