ANY meeting containing a 0-0 is going to be regarded as something out of the ordinary - and there was very little that was ordinary about this wild night of Brandon action.
It was a meeting which will be talked about, re-watched and debated for some time with all sorts of incidents to chew over.
Five of the Buildbase Bees riders were involved in accidents during the meeting - hardly ideal when one of their team-mates is already in hospital with a broken leg - and Jordan Frampton, quite apart from celebrating becoming a club asset, suffered no fewer than four falls throughout.
Panthers weren't exempt from the carnage either, Karol Zabik being ruled out with a shoulder problem, whilst skipper Niels-Kristian Iversen and Kenneth Hansen (whose scores, with full respect to both riders, would have looked more plausible had they been transposed - it was that kind of night) both took tumbles too.
And somewhere in the middle of it all, there was some mighty fine racing too, with riders from both teams pulling off some of the best passing moves seen at Brandon this season.
The first race was one to forget - at least for the home supporters, with Henning Bager making a terrific start despite lifting on his way to the bend, and as he was joined at the front by Kenneth Bjerre, Frampton fell on turn three and Chris Harris was unable to land a challenging blow on the Panthers' No.1.
But Frampton turned things around with a good ride to win Heat 2, pouncing on Claus Vissing's error at the start of lap three to take the lead, whilst Ricky Wells held third place over Hansen in the early stages before being trapped on the outside going into the second lap which gave Hansen his chance to move through.
That was the start of a remarkable performance by Hansen, who almost single-handedly kept the visitors in contention for large parts of the meeting.
Bees quickly levelled the scores thanks to Olly Allen and Edward Kennett with a convincing 5-1 in Heat 3, but they looked set to drop behind again in the next race as Hansen and Iversen gated, only for Frampton to drive inside Iversen at the end of the first lap and Rory Schlein to follow him through.
Kennett surged around Bjerre and Bager on turn two in Heat 5 but had to do it all again after Allen, who was attempting to join him, hit the fence on the fourth bend and was disqualified. Kennett duly took control of the re-run in similar fashion, clocking the fastest Brandon time of the season so far.
More drama was to follow in Heat 6 with Vissing's machine expiring on the start-line and Iversen taking an early lead, only for him to go too wide on the fourth bend, allowing both Harris and Frampton to move through. Iversen chased hard but found his way blocked, until he lost it on the last bend, hit the fence and received outside assistance before crossing the finishing line, resulting in a 5-0 to the Bees.
Heat 7 provided an indication of the talent the Bees have acquired in Wells, who looked much happier at the starts and was therefore fully able to contest his races - and he did so to good effect on his occasion to hold a comfortable third place over Zabik, and chasing Mads Korneliussen behind Schlein, before Zabik fell, possibly due to a mechanical failure, and suffered shoulder damage.
Bees were edging their way clear and continued to do so with another battling effort in Heat 8 as Allen made it through a narrow gap past Hansen into turn three, and Frampton moved inside Bager for third place at the start of the second lap.
And there was then some excellent team-riding from Kennett and Allen in Heat 9 to hold back the thrusting Iversen, who on one occasion seemed to have moved around Kennett only to find the way blocked by Allen.
At that stage, Bees were 13 points clear and looking set for a convincing win - but things were nowhere near that simple, as things turned drastically against them in the closing stages.
First, Harris was left by Hansen and Korneliussen at the start of Heat 10 and then came down heavily on the third lap - reminiscent of his crash against Lakeside last season - when trying to make his move around the outside.
That 5-1 trimmed the gap back to nine points, although the margin was maintained by Schlein's second win of the night in Heat 11 as Frampton spun and fell at relatively low speed on turn two.
Hansen was at it again in Heat 12 to gain revenge over Allen, but all the action was behind them with Wells moving inside Korneliussen early in the race but then being caught by the Dane's wide sweeping move at the start of lap four to salvage a point.
Match victory was virtually assured in a tremendous Heat 13 with Bjerre making the start but Harris showing no ill effects from his earlier crash - despite a back problem - to surge around the outside on lap three, whilst one lap earlier Schlein had topped off Iversen's night of misery by getting inside him off turn two.
And so to Heat 14, with Bees nine points to the good... the race which required four starts (with an unsatisfactory start thrown in for good measure) and resulted in four disqualifications!
The first incident took place on turn four, and after Vissing had made a good start it was set up by Hansen's move on the inside of Kennett, who was blocked going into the third bend by Vissing in front of him. Kennett fell on the fourth bend when trying to go back round Hansen, and later confirmed that his front wheel had hit (or been hit by, depending on which way you wanted to view it) Hansen's dirt deflector. Red disqualification light, exit Kennett and we were left with three.
The next instalment saw Vissing and Frampton contesting turns three and four, once again with the Bees rider on the outside, and once again with the Bees rider going down. This time, referee Jim Lawrence ruled that Vissing had come across to cause Frampton to fall, and we were reduced to a match race.
Which didn't last too long... after Frampton gated and held the lead for the first lap, Hansen attempted to dive through on the inside into turn three. The simple facts which followed were that Frampton ended up in the air-fence entering the bend, Hansen further around, and both rather heavily so it was a relief to see them walk away.
Hansen apologised to Frampton as they made their way back to the pits, but the official verdict was that the two riders had fallen independently and would therefore both be disqualified - cue much (more) conversation the telephone, but a 0-0 outcome from the race and the scores unchanged!
So Bees went into the last heat defending a nine-point lead, but even then there was one final twist in what was building up to be another great race - with Schlein almost getting around Bjerre at the end of lap one, he then cut back into the third bend but overlocked on the inside, slewed towards the fence and straight into the path of the following Kennett, which meant more carnage on that particular piece of track.
Schlein was left with possible rib damage and Kennett with machinery problems after his second fall of the night, so the Panthers clearly had a chance in the re-run - which they took, with Kennett on Harris's bike unable to quite make up enough ground on Korneliussen for second place.
And that, maybe, is the unfortunate side of the new scoring system, because although it benefits the losing team to still battle for a point, it also leaves the winning team perhaps feeling less than fully satisfied for "only" taking two rather than three points from the meeting.
Having said that, Bees would surely have taken two points in their weakened position, especially after Heat 1, and their concern now will be for their bruised riders to get plenty of rest, and their battered machinery to get plenty of re-building, ahead of Monday's big local derby at Wolverhampton.
BUILDBASE BEES 44 Chris Harris 1 3 F 3 = 7 Ben Barker Rider Replacement Olly Allen 3 X 3 3 2 = 11 Edward Kennett 2* 3 2* X 1 = 8+2 Rory Schlein 1* 3 3 1 X = 8+1 Ricky Wells 0 1 1 0 = 2 Jordan Frampton 0 3 2 2* 1 F X = 8+1
PETERBOROUGH 39 Kenneth Bjerre 2* 2 1* 2 3 = 10+2 Henning Bager 3 1* 0 = 4+1 Mads Korneliussen 1 2 2* 1 2* = 8+2 Karol Zabik 0 F = 0 Niels-Kristian Iversen 0 F 1 0 = 1 Claus Vissing 2 R 0 X = 2 Kenneth Hansen 1* 3 2 3 2 3 X = 14+1
