PETERBOROUGH were left empty-handed from their trip to Lakeside on Friday following a 51-39 defeat at the Purfleet track.

PETERBOROUGH were left empty-handed from their trip to Lakeside on Friday following a 51-39 defeat at the Purfleet track.

The Readypower Panthers were in contention for a league point and a possible away victory for much of the match, but let things slip in the closing stages as the Essex side finished strongly.

Panthers produced seven of the fifteen race winners, but Hammers had the strength in depth on the night with four of their riders scoring 10-points and they made that count as the meeting reached its climax.

Despite having nothing to show for their night’s efforts there were still positives to take from the loss with skipper Kenneth Bjerre continuing to show improved form with a 13-point score. Patrick Hougaard was also in the thick of the action for the second match running with a healthy 10+3 contribution and Kenni Larsen impressed again with 8 from four rides.

There was nothing between the teams in the early exchanges with Bjerre and Hougaard winning the opening couple of races for a share of the points, but the Hammers edged ahead with a 4-2 in Heat 3.

They went further in front with another 4-2 in Heat 4 but a Larsen and Hougaard maximum in Heat 6 levelled up the scores at 18-18.

Starting was all-important on the technical Arena-Essex Raceway with the home side going six-points up after successive race advantages in Heats 7 and 8, but the visiting duo of Larsen and Hougaard got them back in touch with a 5-1 in Heat 9 over the former Panther pairing of Piotr Swiderski and Lewis Bridger.

But back came Lakeside with a 5-1 of their own in Heat 10 and then Davey Watt won a shared Heat 11 ahead of Bjerre and Hougaard.

Ryan Fisher then took the chequered flag in Heat 12 from Robert Mear and Bridger, but victory was almost assured for the Hammers when Peter Karlsson and Watt’s 4-2 put them eight-points ahead with two races to go.

And that was confirmed moments later when Mear and Swiderski passed Hougaard for a 5-1 in Heat 14.

Bjerre finished the night on a personal high note by winning a shared Heat 15 ahead of Swiderski and Karlsson and it was a result that means the Panthers remain just above Poole at the foot of the Elite League table by a slender race-points difference.

LAKESIDE 51: Peter Karlsson 10+1, Piotr Swiderski 10+1, Robert Mear 10+1, Davey Watt 10, Kim Nilsson 6+2, Lewis Bridger 3+2, Richard Lawson 2+1.

READYPOWER PANTHERS 39: Kenneth Bjerre 13, Patrick Hougaard 10+3, Kenni Larsen 8, Ryan Fisher 6, Linus Sundstrom 2, Nicolai Klindt 0, Dakota North 0.