Peterborough Panthers 48 – Poole Pirates 42 Elite League A - Thursday 11th May 2006 Aggregate Total 90-90 – Poole won bonus after a run off
Both sides missing injured riders put on an excellent show in what turned out to be a very close and exciting match that went down to the wire.
Panthers got off to a very good start with Hans Andersen winning his now customary heat 1, but most eyes were on new boy Piotr Swiderski who despite missing the gate, produced an excellent first corner to claim third spot and hold onto it. Poole’s Jonas Davidsson claimed victory in heat 2 but Richard Hall & no 8 Jon Armstrong claimed the minor placings, with ex panther Daniel Davidsson in his usual place at the back.
Jesper B Jensen & Niels Kristian Iversen then claimed what would be the only 5-1 of the match in heat 3, and with Ryan Sullivan and Jon Armstrong getting a 4-2 in heat 4, Panthers were 8 points to the good and things were looking promising.
Craig Boyce & Simon Stead then looked to have stalled the charge by jumping out of the traps to lead heat 5, Jensen & Iversen both got past Stead, but they were unable to catch Boyce. Another 4-2 courtesy of the skipper and the new boy in heat 6 put the difference at 10 pts and that was as good as it got.
Successive heat advantages by Poole in heats 7 & 8 reduced there arrears to 6 and got Poole back into the match, with Swiderski doing well to hold off Boyce for second spot in heat 8. Iversen fell alarmingly in heat 9 after picking up drive from a rut on the first corner, but thankfully walked away and Jensen made a tapes to flag win in the rerun.
Things started to get tight now as Poole sensed they might just get something out of a match that seemed unlikely at the start. For the next 3 heats Panthers supplied the winner with Poole providing the minor placings, until Simon Stead reversed the trend by winning heat 13, whilst resisting the pressure by Ryan Sullivan & Hans Andersen as they tried everything to get by.
Heat 14 provided the opportunity for Poole to get a little closer and they duly took advantage as Antonio Lindback got the better of Iversen and impressive Poole reserve Jonas Davidsson collected third. This left the match delicately poised with the match and the bonus point on offer.
Heat 15 saw Jensen and Andersen for Panthers up against Lindback and Stead. Lindback made the gate with the Panthers pairing shutting out Stead, Jensen quickly got passed Lindback, but Andersen had a right old tussle with the GP star for the whole 4 laps with passing and re passing before Lindback got it on the run in to the flag.
That left the Panthers as winners of the match at 48-42, but tied on aggregate for the bonus.
Peterborough’s first run off in 2006 saw Poole not surprisingly nominate Lindback, with Panthers choice between Jensen & Andersen. Team manager Trevor Swales plumped for Jensen and looked to have made a good choice as he made the gate and led for nearly the entire race, however the alarm bells started ringing as Lindback chased wide in the dirt and everyone could see what was likely to happen as he reeled Jensen in and passed him on the last corner.
The track appeared a bit too slick overall, although from all accounts the riders were happy with it. The Panthers badly missed Ulrich Ostergaard and it made our tail a bit weak which Poole took full advantage off. However Piotr Swiderski looks very promising and should improve as he settles down.
You could see quite clearly at the press conference that the team was very disappointed to lose the bonus point, but they are again top of the league and will surely be keen to rectify matters next week, it remains to be seen however what difference that point makes in the final tally.
PETERBOROUGH 48 Agg: 90 1 Hans Andersen 3 3 3 1' 1 = 11+1 2 Piotr Swiderski 1 1 2 0 = 4 3 Jesper Jensen 2' 2 3 3 3 = 13+1 4 Niels K Iversen 3 1' FX 2 = 6+1 5 Ryan Sullivan 3 2 3 2 = 10 6 Richard Hall 2 0 0 0 0 = 2 7 Jon Armstrong 1' 1 0 = 2+1
