Peterborough Panthers edged out in thriller by Ipswich Witches

The Crendon Panthers put up a terrific fight and looked set to inflict major damage on the Witches’ play-off hopes when they led by six points with five races remaining.

But Emil Sayfutdinov put on a devastating World class performance on his way to a 15-point maximum, and that along with a brave Heat 13 ride from Jason Doyle allowed the visitors to turn things around.

For Panthers there were plenty of bright spots, including a great show from new reserve Patryk Wojdylo whose second appearance at the Showground was a huge success.

Wojdylo had failed to score as he found his feet last week, but he won three races to rack up an impressive 12-point score this time around, whilst Benjamin Basso also enjoyed one of his best displays of the season.

New skipper Chris Harris didn’t enjoy the dream return he had hoped for, although he played his part in a super Heat 10 5-1 when he and Wojdylo got the better of Danny King.

Ipswich made a fast start and led 9-3 after two races, before Basso and Ben Cook got Panthers on the board with a 5-1 over Danny King in Heat 3.

And the home side were ahead in Heat 4 which featured the rare sight of Doyle being on the receiving end of a maximum as Wojdylo and Niels-Kristian Iversen raced clear for Panthers.

Sayfutdinov made a strong pass on Basso to take Heat 5, before Wojdylo stunned Doyle by moving inside him on the second lap of Heat 6 to put Panthers back ahead, and a 4-2 in Heat 7 headed by Iversen put them four points up.

Erik Riss was a key man for the Witches and he took charge in Heat 8 with Jordan Jenkins preventing a 1-5 by passing Dan Thompson, and when Wojdylo and Harris combined over King and Keynan Rew in Heat 10, Panthers were six points to the good.

That was immediately chopped back to two when Sayfudtinov and Riss went either side of Iversen off turn two in Heat 11, with the Panthers man battling in vain to split the combination.

Heat 12 was shared as Basso took the flag, but a dramatic Heat 13 saw Doyle burst between Harris and Iversen to take the paid win behind the flying Sayfutdinov.

Ipswich could have sealed the deal in Heat 14 only for Cook to produce a terrific effort to go around Danyon Hume and then inside Thompson to take the match to a last heat decider at 41-43.

And briefly Panthers’ hopes were raised as Basso and Iversen made good starts, only for Sayfutdinov to produce an incredible ride to work his way to the front, whilst Doyle got the better of Iversen for third place.

It wasn’t the result Panthers were looking for, but it was a spectacular speedway meeting with some of the best action on the track in recent years.

Manager Rob Lyon said: “It was a much better performance than last week against Wolves, but we missed Vadim Tarasenko tonight.

“We scored seven for him, but with Patryk going the way he was, it limited us to where we could put those rides.

“But fair play to Ipswich, it was a good performance by them. They hung in there because we had it pretty much won up to about two-thirds of the way through the meeting.

“Patryk had a different engine tonight and he looks a promising prospect. He tailed off towards the end but it was a great performance. Overall for us, it was better, but still frustrating!”

With the British Final taking place at Belle Vue next Monday, Panthers are next in action at Sheffield on Thursday August 17.

PETERBOROUGH 43: Patryk Wojdylo 12, Benjamin Basso 11+1, Ben Cook 7+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 6+1, Chris Harris 4+1, Jordan Jenkins 3, Vadim Tarasenko r/r.

IPSWICH 47: Emil Sayfutdinov 15, Jason Doyle 9+1, Erik Riss 8+2, Danny King 6, Dan Thompson 5+1, Danyon Hume 4+1, Keynan Rew 0.Ipswich win the aggregate point.