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Zabik stars on his return to Alwalton - Panthers 53 Poole 38
(Elite League A)
(Elite League A)YOU spell it 'Zabik', you pronounce it ''Zombik' and if you're a Panthers fan you just sit back, relax and admire it.
The Polish prodigy – who goes by the name of Karol – announced his return to the Peterborough fold with a typically swashbuckling performance last night as Panthers predictably pocketed maximum points.
Trevor Swales' men are hardly short of trimmings at the moment, but Panthers without Zabik is like roast beef minus the Yorkshire pudding.
His presence is a shot in the arm to a city side rapidly gaining momentum after their ultra-slow start to the season. It also provided a slap in the face to all the conspiracy theorists and doubters who reckoned he would never be back.
And Zabik (back after spending several weeks in Poland while his mother was treated for serious illness) followed up a pleasing nine-point performance by issuing a list of thank-yous so long it rivalled an Oscar winner's speech.
He said: "I have to thank the management of the club for supporting me and understanding my situation.
"And I want to say the same to the fans who have always been brilliant to me here.
"It feels great to be back at my English home, racing at this good track with my friends."
But this was not all about the 'pocket rocket'. Number one Kenneth Bjerre and skipper Niels Kristian Iversen both roared into double-figures as the city side notched a handsome 53 points for the second successive Thursday.
Last week they did it with only six riders and that was technically the case again as reserve Andrew Tully – so hot seven days earlier – endured a frustrating, pointless meeting.
But the rest of the Panthers corps made sure that wasn't costly as every other rider was paid for at least eight points on a night when anything less than a convincing victory would have been a disappointment.
Not even the most outrageous Government smear campaigner would have dared to suggest that Poole could have caused problems at the Showground.
The Dorset side slumped to a shocking 32-point defeat on their own shale at the hands of Coventry just 24 hours earlier. They were never going to be that bad that again . . . and they weren't.But even when one-time Panthers rider Tomasz Piszcz and reserve partner Paul Hurry claimed a shock 5-1 for the visitors in heat two this contest had an air of inevitability about it.
That was still the case after another Pirates advantage in heat seven when Iversen fluffed the start – and not even a couple of questionable refereeing calls from Paul Carrington could have an effect on the outcome.
He incurred the wrath of Mads Korneliussen when excluding the Panthers man from the ninth heat even though he was given considerable assistance on his way into the second-bend fence from Chris Holder.
Panthers eventually established complete control during the closing stages by ramming in four maximums in the closing six heats.
But there was still time for Carrington to upset the hosts again when awarding third place in heat 13 to double-points chasing Holder even though the general consensus was that Iversen had crossed the line at least half-a-bike length clear.
Such was the clear margin of 'victory' for Iversen that Panthers bosses even promised to pay their skipper for the point he should have been awarded.
"It felt like Poole had an eighth rider up in the referee's box," said team manager Trevor Swales. "I reckon we ought to have a collection to send him to Specsavers because those two decisions were terrible mistakes."
It was a quip that went down well and Iversen was able to enjoy the last laugh on track. He and Bjerre added the final gloss with a maximum in the closing race after Zabik and Kenneth Hansen had done likewise in the penultimate contest to earn a standing ovation.
SCORES
Panthers
Kenneth Bjerre 13 (2, 3, 3, 2, 3)
Ales Dryml 6+2 (1*, 0, 3, 2*)
Mads Korneliussen 8+1 (3, 2*, fx, 3)
Karol Zabik 9 (1, 3, 2, 3)
Niels Kristian Iversen 10+1 (3, 2, 3, 0, 2*)
Andrew Tully 0 (0, 0, 0)
Kenneth Hansen 7+2 (1, 1, 1, 2*, 2*)
Poole
Bjarne Pedersen 9+1 (3, 1, 1*, 3, 1)
Lukasz Jankowski 2 (0, 0, 2)
Joe Screen 7 (2, 3, 1, 1)
Daniel Davidsson 1 (0, 1, 0, 0)
Chris Holder 8+2 (2, 1*, 3, 2* t/r, 0)
Tomasz Piszcz 9 (3, 2, 2, 1, 0, 1)
Paul Hurry 2+1 (2*, 0, 0)
HEATS
1 - PEDERSEN (60.7), Bjerre, Dryml, Jankowski. 3-3, 3-3.
2 - PISZCZ (61.7), Hurry, Hansen, Tully. 1-5, 4-8.
3 - KORNELIUSSEN (61.6), Screen, Zabik, Davidsson. 4-2, 8-10.
4 - IVERSEN (61.4), Holder, Hansen, Hurry. 4-2, 12-12.
5 - ZABIK (62.6), Korneliussen, Pedersen, Jankowski. 5-1, 17-13.
6 - BJERRE (62.1), Piszcz, Holder, Dryml. 3-3, 20-16.
7 - SCREEN (62.5), Iversen, Davidsson, Tully. 2-4, 22-20.
8 - DRYML (62.9), Piszcz, Hansen, Hurry. 4-2, 26-22.
9 - re-run - HOLDER (62.9), Zabik, Piszcz, Korneliuusen (fx). 2-4, 28-26.
10 - BJERRE (62.8), Dryml, Screen, Davidsson. 5-1, 33-27.
11 - IVERSEN (62.9), Jankowski, Pedersen, Tully. 3-3, 36-30.
12 - KORNELIUSSEN (62.5), Hansen, Screen, Piszcz. 5-1, 41-31.
13 - PEDERSEN (63.8), Bjerre, Holder (t/r), Iversen. 2-5, 43-36.
14 - ZABIK (62.5), Hansen, Piszcz, Davidsson. 5-1, 48-37.
15 - BJERRE (63.0), Iversen, Pedersen, Holder. 5-1, 53-38.
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Weather for Peterborough
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
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