Peterborough Panthers beaten after star rider crashes out on his first lap of the season

Panthers lost No.1 and star signing Nicki Pedersen after a crash within half a lap of the start of Heat 1, yet still managed to race into a six-point lead with five heats remaining.

But the powerhouse Witches spearhead dominated the closing stages, with Emil Sayfutdinov spectacular on his UK return, and three 5-1s turned the match back in their favour.

Pedersen’s accident came on the exit of turn two in the first race when he and Ipswich rider Erik Riss both lifted, and the Dane lost the bike and went into the fence at the start of the back straight.

The big crowd in attendance were left silent as the ambulance was called on-track, but fortunately Pedersen was able to walk away after treatment – albeit with his involvement in the meeting over due to lower back pains.

Panthers reserves Jordan Jenkins and Ben Cook charged to a 5-1 in Heat 2 to cancel out the Witches’ first-race maximum, and Benjamin Basso produced a superb effort to surge inside Danny King on the last lap of Heat 3 as the home side went ahead.

But Sayfutdinov immediately showed his speed with a remarkable ride to go from third to first in Heat 4, having been headed initially by the fast-starting Jenkins, and he eventually pipped Niels-Kristian Iversen off the final turn.

Basso rode superbly to hold off Jason Doyle in Heat 6, but the match continued to be nip-and-tuck with Iversen working hard to split King and Keynan Rew in the next.

Skipper Hans Andersen dived inside Riss to take the lead in Heat 8 after Jenkins had encountered difficulty on turn two – where the white line had been moved out in order to counter a soft patch – and the same area also caught out Richie Worrall in Heat 9 as he dropped from second to last, with Basso becoming the first rider to defeat Sayfutdinov.

Andersen and Iversen rolled back the years with a 5-1 over King in Heat 10 to put Panthers 33-27 up, but the Witches hit back immediately with a forceful ride by Doyle in Heat 11 taking him inside both Iversen and Cook to team up with Riss to cut the gap to two.

King controlled Heat 12 for the visitors before Sayfutdinov and Doyle put them back ahead with a 5-1 in Heat 13 which was previously scheduled to include Pedersen for the Panthers.

Aussie youngster Rew consolidated Ipswich’s position by moving inside Basso in Heat 14, taking them into the last race with their lead intact, before Sayfutdinov and Doyle made no mistake in the decider against Iversen and Basso.

Panthers manager Rob Lyon said: “We got four paid five from Nicki’s rides, and that would have been tough against any of the other sides, let alone Ipswich.

“We just ran out of steam towards the end, but I think if you look at the rest of the team we did okay. The boys rode well at times, but we lacked that extra bit we needed at the end.

“There were a lot of positives that came out of it, the difference was just that score at No.1. But Ipswich have got a good team and fair play to them, they came here and did a job.”

Panthers now have a fortnight off, where they will hope for good news on Pedersen’s fitness, before the busy stage of the season starts on Easter Monday (April 10) at home to newcomers Leicester.

PETERBOROUGH 42: Benjamin Basso 13, Niels-Kristian Iversen 9+1, Hans Andersen 8+1, Jordan Jenkins 5+2, Richie Worrall 4, Ben Cook 3+2, Nicki Pedersen 0.

IPSWICH 48: Emil Sayfutdinov 14, Jason Doyle 10+4, Danny King 9, Erik Riss 8, Keynan Rew 4, Joe Thompson 2+1, Danyon Hume 1+1.