Reading bounced back from last week’s home defeat in the best way possible with a moral boosting 51-42 Elite League victory over the high-flying Peterborough Panthers on Monday evening at Smallmead Stadium.
It was a great-all-round team effort from the Bulldogs, which saw team manager Jim Lynch delighted afterwards. He said: “It was a terrific team performance against one of the best teams in this league. We responded in the best way possible after last week’s disappointment and the win takes us back to the top of the league which is very pleasing.”
Sam Simota was in great form for the Bulldogs and certainly had a busy night with his seven rides yielding a 12 (paid 15) score. Skipper Greg Hancock was next best with 11, but it was very much a team effort with everyone playing their part.
Hans Andersen continued his impressive form this season by top-scoring for the Panthers with 18 points from six rides, with Niels Kristian Iversen giving good support with 11.
Reading got their noses in front early on. Hancock shot from the start to beat the red-hot Andersen and with Travis McGowan passing Ulrich Ostergaard on the second lap, it enabled the Bulldogs to open up with a heat 1 4-2.
Heat 2 saw the Panthers hit straight back when Karol Zabik and Richard Hall raced to a 4-2 of their own, which levelled the scores up at 6-6. Unfortunately this was the last we saw of Andy Smith for the evening, as the rider pulled up at the rear in his first ride back for several weeks with another injury, which saw him withdraw from the remainder of the meeting.
Charlie Gjedde and Janusz Kolodziej put the Bulldogs back in front with a 5-1 in heat 3, and then some good work on the first lap of heat 4 by Matej Zagar and Simota enabled them to link up for another Reading maximum.
Andersen defeated Gjedde and Kolodziej in a shared heat 5 and then a Hancock & McGowan 4-2 in heat 6 increased Reading’s lead to 23-13.
With Peterborough now ten points in arrears team manager Trevor Swales elected for Ryan Sullivan to go out as a tactical ride in heat 7 for double points. Unfortunately the move didn’t work out as planned as he ran a last place as Simota and Zagar romped to a 5-1, with Iversen in third place for the Panthers.
The Reading lead was increased to 32-16 with a McGowan & Simota 4-2 in heat 8, but the Panthers hit back when Andersen (tactical ride) and Hall raced to an 8-1 in heat 9 over Gjedde and Kolodziej. This left Bulldogs 32-24 in front going into heat 10.
Iversen made a good start in heat 10 where he held off a determined Hancock for a couple of laps to take the win. McGowan beat Sullivan for third place, so the race was drawn 3-3.
Andersen beat Zagar and Simota which resulted in a shared of the points in heat 11, and then a Kolodziej & Simota 4-2 in heat 12 put Reading into a 43-32 lead going into the interval.
After the break Peterborough did stage a bit of a comeback. Andersen and Sullivan shot from the tapes, but despite the best efforts of Hancock they held on for the 5-1, which pulled the scores back to 44-37.
The recovery was short-lived though, as Gjedde and Simota wrapped up the victory on the night for Reading with a 5-1 over Iversen and Zabik in heat 14. The Bulldogs now led 49-38 going into the final race of the night.
Heat 15 saw Iversen and Andersen race to a 4-2, with Hancock splitting the Panthers pairing, but the Bulldogs will be satisfied with their night’s work and the 51-42 victory.
READING BULLDOGS 51PETERBOROUGH PANTHERS 42 Elite League ‘B’ – Monday 31st July 2006
READING 51 1 Greg Hancock 3 3 2 1 2 = 11 2 Travis McGowan 1 1 3 1' = 6+1 3 Janusz Kolodziej 2' 1' 0 3 = 6+2 4 Charlie Gjedde 3 2 1 3 0 = 9 5 Matej Zagar 3 2' 2 0 = 7+1 6 Andy Smith R = 0 7 Sam Simota 2 2' 3 1 1' 1 2' = 12+3
PETERBOROUGH 42 1 Hans Andersen 2 3 6 3 3 1 = 18 2 Ulrich Ostergaard 0 1 0 0 = 1 3 Ryan Sullivan 0 0 0 2 2' = 4+1 4 Niels K Iversen 1 2 1 3 1 3 = 11 5 Jesper Jensen r/r 6 Richard Hall 1 0 2' 0 = 3+1 7 Karol Zabik 3 0 2 0 R = 5
