The best thing to come out of Brandon on Friday night from a Peterborough perspective was the fact that Panthers riders came through a tough meeting on a wet track unscathed before Monday�s showdown with Reading. It certainly wasn't their most impressive performance of the season on a lacklustre night at Coventry
Already without Niels Kristian Iversen, still resting following his bad crash in Sweden the week before, Panthers then also lost inspirational skipper Hans Andersen to a nasty bout of gastro-enteritis to leave Panthers weakened by his absence. Swindon rider Lee Richardson came in as a guest for Andersen managing 7 +1 points whilst Ulrich Ostergaard covered for Iversen.
Passing was at a premium early on until some of the wet shale had moved out and as such it was a bit of a gaters paradise as riders needed to avoid being filled in with wet clinging shale. In fact Panthers never really did get going and the best they managed all night were four 3-3 drawn heats in heats 2, 8, 10 and 14. Only Polish star Piotr Swiderski won a heat for Panthers when he silenced the home crowd in heat 12 by beating Scott Nicholls and Billy Janniro in a superb ride for the gutsy Pole. Other than a decent display from Jesper B Jensen, Panthers offered very little and had no answer in truth to Jason Crump�s maximum for Belle Vue or the 10 points apiece scored by Scott Nicholls and Chris Harris for the Bees.
Panthers now have in at all to do and considering they now have the daunting prospect of a 3rd leg at Belle Vue (once dates are confirmed) this could well be as far as Panthers get in the competition for 2006 unless they rack up a huge score in the home leg. In speedway stranger things have happened.
A huge consolation for Panthers fans will be the anticipation of the Elite League Play-Off Final home 2nd Leg to come this Monday which will soften the blow of any disappointment over their showing at Coventry! Panthers face Reading Bulldogs in the crucial 2nd leg �Showdown at the Showground� this Monday 9th October at 7.30pm.
COVENTRY �BUILDBASE� BEES 42
1. Scott Nicholls 3 3 2 2 = 10 2. Billy Janniro 2* 1 1* ef = 4+2 3. Chris Harris 3 3 1 3 = 10 4. Oliver Allen 1 F 3 1 = 5 5. Rory Schlein 3 3 2 1 = 9 6. Martin Smolinski 2* 1 1* 0 = 4+2
PETERBOROUGH PANTHERS 26
1. Lee Richardson (G) 1 2 2 2 = 7 2. Richard Hall Fx 0 ef 0 = 0 3. Ulrich Ostergaard 2 0 0 0 = 2 4. Jesper B Jensen 1* 2 2 2 = 7+1 5. Ryan Sullivan 1 2 0 1* = 4+1 6. Piotr Swiderski 0 1* 3 2 = 6+1
