PETERBOROUGH hit their SGB Championship KO Cup target when continuing a successful start to 2017 today (Sunday).
The ‘T Balfe Construction’ Panthers collected a 49-39 victory against Redcar in the first leg of a first round clash at the East of England Showground.
Reserve Bradley Wilson-Dean delivered a second successive double-figures score to spearhead another solid Peterborough showing.
And team boss Carl Johnson was a happy man despite seeing visitors Redcar reduce their arrears by a third in the final two races with Charles Wright completing a full maximum when leading home former Panthers man Ben Barker for a heat 15 5-1.
Johnson said: “I asked the boys to build up a 10-point lead, so I’m pleased we have that cushion to take up to Redcar for the second leg.
“We were further clear with a couple of races to go, but Redcar fought back well at the end to keep themselves in the tie.
"They came here wanting to turn us over, but we showed our strength again to build up a lead.
“Bradley was superb and is doing the job we expected of him at reserve. There was plenty of other positives too with six of our riders managing at least a paid win.
"But we know the tie is far from over and we have a job to do in the second leg."
The opening two races were shared before back-to-back 4-2s edged Redcar into a four-point advantage.
That was wiped out when the fifth heat was eventually completed at the fourth attempt with Paul Starke and Ulrich Ostergaard enjoying a Panthers’ procession to claim a 5-0.
Bears number one Jason Garrity was excluded from the initial staging of that race following a first-lap tumble and the second attempt got no further than the second bend when Ostergaard hit the deck after a tangle with Tobias Busch.
Referee Margaret Vardy opted to allow both riders into a second re-run, but she did exclude the German visitor moments later after a spectacular crash when attempting to squeeze round Ostergaard on the back straight.
Busch was stretchered into an ambulance with an ankle injury which forced his withdrawal before Starke and Ostergaard completed four exhibition laps to edge Panthers ahead.
And they didn’t look back from there with a hat-trick of 5-1s in the next four races powering them clear.
Two of those full-houses featured Simon Lambert. He claimed his first triumph of the 2017 season in heat six, when having number one Jack Holder in tow, and then led for much of the way in the eighth contest before following in partner Wilson-Dean.
A series of shared races followed before Panthers stretched their advantage when Holder and Kenneth Hansen stormed to another 5-1 in heat 13, leaving Barker in their wake.
But the hosts saw their cushion reduced as Redcar finished with successive heat advantages which could prove very valuable.
Jonas B. Andersen led home Wilson-Dean in an awarded heat 14, when they were the only two finishers, before Wright and Barker slammed in a 5-1 in the finale.
The second leg is at Redcar this Thursday (April 13).
SCORES
PETERBOROUGH ‘T BALFE CONSTRUCTION’ PANTHERS: Bradley Wilson-Dean 11+1, Jack Holder 9+1, Kenneth Hansen 9+1, Simon Lambert 7+3, Paul Starke 7+1, Ulrich Ostergaard 6+2, Tom Bacon 0.
REDCAR: Charles Wright 15 (max), Ben Barker 8+1, Jason Garrity 6, Jonas B. Andersen 5, Ellis Perks 3+1, Richard Hall 2, Tobias Busch 0.
