Peterborough Panthers 55 – Swindon Robins 40 Elite League A – Friday 14th April 2006
It was certainly a Good Friday as far as Panthers was concerned as they comfortably saw off Swindon to claim the points and give themselves a healthy lead for the return fixture. Swindon were expected to give Panthers a tough match but they were put under the cosh from the start, never troubled the home side and the final scoreline somewhat flattered them.
On another grippy track Hans Andersen showed his liking for the surface by reducing the track record to 59.2 in heat 1, unfortunately new boy Jonas Raun was unable to trouble the opposition so it was honours even after the first race. The reserves put us into the lead with Richard Hall winning his first race at Alwalton in heat 2, and with Jesper Jensen & Niels Kristian Iversen getting a maximum in heat 3 Panthers immediately went six in front.
Ryan Sullivan & Ulrich Ostergaard both made the gate in heat 4, but GP star Leigh Adams stalked Ostergaard and pounced on the first mistake he made to get by him, but he could make no impression on Sullivan. Another maximum from the Jensen/Iversen combination saw the Panthers quickly go into a 21-9 lead.
The inevitable tactical from Adams in heat 6 saw him win his only race of the evening and the 7-2 claimed by Swindon reduced there arrears to 7 points. Sullivan win in heat 7 ensured another drawn race but a Swindon 4-2 in heat 8 reduced the Panthers lead to just 5 points.
The maximum men Jensen & Iversen did it again in heat 9 but Adams engine failure at the start clearly didn’t help Swindon’s cause. Swindon responded again with a Sebastian Ulamek tactical in heat 10, and although skipper Andersen won it, the resulting 5-3 to Swindon again reduced the Panthers lead to 7 points.
After the interval Sullivan won his third race of the evening in heat 11 and with Jensen team riding Ostergaard home in heat 12 the Panthers lead was increased to 11. An eagerly awaited heat 13 didn’t disappoint as Andersen & Sullivan got the drop on the Swindon aces from the gate. A mix up between them, Andersen closed the door on Sullivan thinking it was Adams behind him, enabled Adams to claim second but Panthers still took the race, with ex Panther Lee Richardson at the back and never troubling the others.
Iversen won the 14th after a good tussle with Sebastian Ulamek, which just left the nominated heat 15.
Maximum men Jensen & Iversen got the nod for Panthers with Adams & Ulamek nominated by Swindon. Ulamek made a very good start to lead, but Jensen smoothly went by him to maintain his paid maximum, Iversen briefly got on terms with Ulamek but was unable to hold onto the advantage, but he did ensure Adams stayed at the back to ensure Panthers a 15 point victory. Jesper Jensen got the traditional bumps from his team mates and it was no accident he ended up in the wet shale afterwards, his team mates deciding he was to clean having done the meeting.
On the whole this was an excellent match with some good racing, the Panthers top 4 are now looking awesome, with just 5 dropped points from 18 races between them. They restricted one of the best spearheaded teams in the Elite League to just 2 race wins all night. Thrown in at the deep end, new boy Jonas Raun tried hard, but this league is tough on a 16 year old with limited experience and he found it understandably tough. Richard Hall struggled after winning heat 2, but Ulrich Ostergaard again shined after a slow start.
PETERBOROUGH = 55 1. Hans Andersen 3-2-3-3 = 11 2. Jonas Raun 0-0-0-0 = 0 3. Jesper B Jensen 3-3-2'-3-3 = 14+1 4. Niels Kristian Iversen 2'-2'-3-3-1 = 11+2 5. Ryan Sullivan 3-3-3-1 = 10 6. Richard Hall 3-0-0-0 = 3 7. Ulrich Ostergaard 1-1-2-2' = 6+1
SWINDON = 40 1. Lee Richardson 2-1-2-0 = 5 2. Mads Korneliussen R/R-SA-RG-AM-SA 3. Renat Gafurov 1’-1’-3- 1- R = 6 +2 4. Sebastian Ulamek 0-2-4^-2-2 = 10 5. Leigh Adams 2-6^-ef-2-0 = 10 6. Adrian Miedzinski 0-0-1-1-1 = 3 7. Sebastian Alden 1’-2-0-1-1’-1’ = 6+3
