Peterborough Panthers showed plenty of spirit but didn’t quite have enough quality on a chilly night in Manchester, as they lost 50-40 against the Belle Vue Aces last night.
It was a keenly fought affair that was nip and tuck throughout before the Aces pulled away over the latter stages to win comfortably in the end and take the bonus point into the bargain. Hans Andersen began the meeting in fine style with a win from Joe Screen in heat 1 before a Richard Hall/Ulrich Ostergaard 4-2 in heat two edged Panthers in front. That one had to be re-started after Morris had bundled into Madsen on the 4th bend in the original staging of the race. Madsen was slow in getting to his feet but was able to complete the meeting for the Aces and record one of his best returns of the season so far.
Another 4-2 to the Panthers in heat 3 from Niels Kristian Iversen and Jesper B Jensen over the Wright/Stead pairing had Panthers in control early on but the Aves then hit back with 4-2’s of their own in heats 4 and 5. Three drawn heats followed as Ulrich Ostergaard continued to impress, in fact both reserves had a good night for Panthers and outscored their Aces counterparts by 10 to 8.
Belle Vue nicked a 4-2 through Simon Stead over Ryan Sullivan in heat 9 to put the Aces 28-26 ahead on the night and it was to be a lead that they never surrendered. Panthers dug in to hold on for another 3-3 in heat 10, but another poor performance from Tomasz Bajerski was key to the Panthers downfall, as Phil Morris easily beat him in heat 11. Aces recorded another 4-2, but his form must be an early season headache for the Panthers management as he just isn’t at the races at the moment.
Belle Vue nailed home their advantage in heat 12 with a 5-1 over Jensen who missed the gate badly after falling on bend 2 to earn a re-run in the original staging from referee Dave Dowling.
Another drawn heat followed before Team Manager Trevor Swales brought Hans Andersen in as a tactical substitute off 15 metres in heat 14 with double points on offer. As if to sum up Panthers dismal start to the season, Andersen was excluded for a coming together with Phil Morris on the second lap as Iversen gave chase to James Wright. He was excluded and with it went any chance of a revival to protect the narrow bonus point lead.
Jason Crump easily won heat 15 to earn himself the Man of the Match award and put three more points on the board for the Aces.
This was better for Panthers at what is traditionally a hard track for them to get any sort of reward from. The end result was similar to recent meetings however with little to show for their efforts. Niels Kristian Iversen followed up good performances against Eastbourne and in Ryan Sullivan’s Testimonial with another quality return. Hans Andersen showed flashes but is capable of much more and the same can be said of Ryan Sullivan. The reserves played their part and Jesper B Jensen will be disappointed with his paid 6 points return after the form he has been in of late. The big worry is currently at number two where Tomasz Bajerski appears to be riding rather than racing and obviously is down on confidence.
It’s Oxford next for Colin Horton’s men on Wednesday evening (5th April) and it is also Bajerski’s old track from 2005.
Can this be victory number one on the road in 2006?
BELLE VUE 50 1 Kenneth Bjerre 1' 1' 3 0 = 5+2 2 Joe Screen 2 2 3 0 = 7 3 Simon Stead 0 3 3 2' 1 = 9+1 4 James Wright 2 1 1 2 = 6 5 Jason Crump 3 3 3 3 3 = 15 6 Phil Morris FX 1 0 1 1' = 3+1 7 Tom P Madsen 2 M 0 3 = 5
PETERBOROUGH 40 1 Hans Andersen 3 2 2 1' 2 = 10+1 2 Tomasz Bajerski 0 0 0 = 0 3 Jesper Jensen 1 1' 2 1 = 5+1 4 Niels K Iversen 3 2 1' 3 = 9+1 5 Ryan Sullivan 2 0 2 2 = 6 6 Richard Hall 3 0 1' M 0 = 4+1 7 Ulrich Ostergaard 1 M 3 2 0 M 0 = 6
