Sky Sports Elite League B- Wednesday 26th July 2006
Poole Pirates 36 Peterborough Panthers 56
Peterborough Panthers returned to the scene of their infamous televised victory just over 12 months ago and if anything topped that result with an awesome display to simply destroy Poole Pirates unbeaten home record on a night when some awesome gating, sensible riding and attacking speedway ensured that everything went their way.
Panthers welcomed back Karol Zabik after a few meetings absence through Polish racing commitments, whilst rider-replacement still operated for Jesper B Jensen. Poole had to call up Isle of Wight’s Australian star Jason Doyle to replace Jonas Davidsson but other than that they were at full strength although you wouldn’t have thought so the way Panthers tore into them from the off.
Hans Andersen continued the awesome points scoring form he has shown in recent weeks with yet another 17 point haul, this time the rider taking his scalp was Antonio Lindback in a drawn heat 11. Andersen easily won heat one and with Boyce having mechanical problems, Ostergaard took advantage to register the visitors an opening 4-2. Richard Hall and Zabik powered away from the gate to take heat 2 on a maximum 5-1 and by the time Ryan Sullivan and Niels Kristian Iversen had taken the third by another 4-2 shoreline the Panthers were suddenly 13-5 to the good and looking poised.
Lindback took heat 4 for a 3-3 shoreline and Andersen won heat 5 to earn yet another 4-2 for the rampant away team. Kasprzak’s mechanical gremlins at the tapes only helped stun the subdued home crowd and in doing so heaped more misery on a flat Pirates outfit who were very lame and surprisingly so as this meeting followed their excellent 48-42 win at Belle Vue on the previous Monday.
It was no surprise when Neil Middleditch opted to put Bjarne Pedersen on a tactical ride in heat 6 but it did little damage as Ryan Sullivan reminded home fans what they no longer had as he scorched from tapes to flag for his second victory of the night as the heat was drawn 4-4. Heat 7 saw another attempt by the Poole management as this time Lindback was given the black and white helmet colour and the responsibility of dragging his team back into contention. Things went from bad to worse for Poole as Sullivan and Iversen left the opposition in their wake with a 5-1 that had the Pirates fans looking to the skies for help from the rain gods. When it did come it was met with a big cheer but it never threatened one of Panthers greatest nights of all time from reaching completion.
Karol Zabik looked extremely quick all night and duly delivered another race win in heat 8 as Panthers moved into a 33-17 lead with a 4-2 over Craig Boyce. Ulrich Ostergaard, looking more like his old self, picked up the vital third place point. Poole huffed and puffed and actually provided four of the last six heat winners (compared to only 1 of the first 9) but Panthers rode sensibly to fill the minor placings to ensure no comeback by the home team ever looked likely.
Team Manager Trevor Swales selected Andersen and Zabik for the final race and they duly obliged with a 5-1 to seal a resounding 20 point victory that will send shivers down the spine of every other Elite League Team Manager, especially on a night when the top side Reading lost at home to Wolverhampton to cap a very happy Wednesday for the red and black attack.
Panthers now take on Reading this evening at the East of England Showground (tapes up 7.30pm) although they will have to be wary of complacency and a back lash from a Bulldogs team who lost for the third time on home shale but still top the Elite League table at the present time. If Panthers keep performing like they did tonight in Dorset it won’t be for long of that you can be sure.
