PETERBOROUGH raced to their biggest win of the season with an emphatic 54-36 Bank Holiday victory over local rivals King’s Lynn.
In front of a big crowd at the East of England Arena, the Crendon Panthers started and finished in blistering fashion to make it two home successes in the space of five days.
Star man was undoubtedly New Zealand ace Bradley Wilson-Dean who raced to a brilliant four-ride paid maximum from the No.2 position – twice getting the better of British Champion Robert Lambert.
But it was a true team effort from the Panthers, who provided all but three of the race wins, with six riders taking the flag at least once – and reserve guest Paul Starke also played his part.
Panthers stormed out of the blocks with Hans Andersen and Wilson-Dean giving them the perfect start ahead of Lambert in Heat 1, and almost before the shell-shocked visitors could respond, the score was 18-6.
Race wins from Aaron Summers and Scott Nicholls were backed up by colleagues in 4-2s, whilst Rohan Tungate and Starke took maximum returns over Thomas Jorgensen in Heat 4.
Former Peterborough duo Lambert and Michael Palm Toft arrested the Stars’ slide with a 5-1 in Heat 5, but Wilson-Dean was superb in the next as he thwarted the Lynn tactical substitute ride of Lambert with a great outside move.
The visitors still cut the gap to six points as guest Cameron Heeps took Heat 7, but that was as close as they got, and two more 4-2s put Panthers into the interval ten clear again.
Charles Wright took his first win of the day with a smart pass on Jorgensen in Heat 9, and Wilson-Dean and Andersen both came from the back for an advantage in the next.
At that stage, the Stars still had hopes of a league point, which were raised with Palm Toft overtook Nicholls to win Heat 12, but Panthers finished in stunning fashion.
Andersen again rolled back the years to defeat Lambert in a Panthers’ 4-2 in Heat 13, whilst Wright and Summers ended the visitors’ hopes completely with maximum points over Palm Toft and Heeps in the next.
And a perfect derby day was completed by Andersen and Tungate, who wrapped proceedings up with another 5-1 in the last to put the seal on a terrific performance from the revised Peterborough side.
Boss Carl Johnson said: “We’ve struggled at home with points, there have only been a couple of points in meetings, but it was pleasing to have a big win like that and especially against King’s Lynn!
“I think that was by far Bradley’s best performance in our colours – he was fast even from the back even when he did miss the start, and we protected his maximum in Heat 15 because Hans and Rohan were going so well.
“The racing was good again, the track was fantastic again and it’s more to our liking at the moment.
“I’m really pleased with everybody’s performances – it was a massive team effort, which is brilliant.”
Panthers now head into a busy run of away matches, starting with a trip to Wimborne Road to face Poole on Thursday.
PETERBOROUGH 54: Rohan Tungate 11+1, Bradley Wilson-Dean 11+1, Hans Andersen 10, Charles Wright 7, Scott Nicholls 6, Aaron Summers 5+1, Paul Starke 4+1. KING’S LYNN 36: Michael Palm Toft 12+3, Robert Lambert 10+1, Cameron Heeps 5, Ty Proctor 4, Thomas Jorgensen 3, Kasper Andersen 2, Erik Riss r/r.