PETERBOROUGH commence a busy schedule of away matches as they visit champions Poole in the Premiership on Thursday.
The Crendon Panthers are on a high after two highly entertaining home wins in the last week, the first of which came against the Pirates in a dramatic last-heat decider.
And Panthers fans with long memories will have very happy recollections of their last trip to the Dorset venue, when they pulled off a spectacular 51-39 win back in August 2013 as part of a blistering run of form.
Just as last week at the East of England Arena, Poole are without their Danish duo Nicolai Klindt and Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen, who are competing in their national Championship Final.
In their places the Pirates have drafted in Swindon’s Adam Ellis to replace Klindt, whilst Jakobsen’s place is taken by Paul Starke – who ironically guested for Panthers against King’s Lynn on Monday.
The Pirates are also expected to be without Brady Kurtz, who has not raced after picking up a shoulder injury at Alwalton last week – but even without the Australian star, they still took five points from their Bank Holiday home and away encounters with Swindon to keep their league total ticking along.
For Panthers, Josh Bates remains on the sidelines and is having continued treatment after his crash at Leicester last weekend.
Bates is hopeful of a comeback in the near future and Kasper Andersen, recently released by King’s Lynn, stands in at reserve at Wimborne Road.
Panthers are otherwise at full strength with a number of riders on a high from recent performances – notably Bradley Wilson-Dean, who netted a four-ride paid maximum on Monday and is now looking for success on the road.
Wilson-Dean said: “Everyone seems to be going really well at the moment, and hopefully we can kick on as a team now and score some points away from home as well as at home.
“We’ve had a couple of really good meetings, and now we’ve just got to carry it on.”
POOLE: Jack Holder, Richie Worrall, Adam Ellis, Josh Grajczonek, TBC, Nico Covatti, Paul Starke. PETERBOROUGH: Hans Andersen, Bradley Wilson-Dean, Scott Nicholls, Charles Wright, Rohan Tungate, Aaron Summers, Kasper Andersen.