Comfortable home win in opening league fixture

It’s one down and 19 to go for Panthers!

The city team launched their league campaign in winning style at a soggy East of England Arena last Sunday evening.

Both sets of riders and referee Mick Bates deserve praise for ensuring this earlyseason showdown went the full distance.

Guest Paul Starke provided an excellent spearhead for Panthers with a 12-point haul on a day where no member of the home team scored less than five.

They sealed victory with a couple of races to spare as number one Scott Nicholls and Ulrich Ostergaard – who pickedhimselfupoffthedeck after an unfortunate spill when within a few metres of victory in his previous outing - combined for a 5-1 in heat 13.

A time of 68.4 for that race was some 10 seconds off the track record and highlighted the difficulty posed by frequent rain.

A retirement for top-scoring Redcar reserve Tobias Busch in the penultimate contest then ended the visitors’ hopes of pocketing a consolation point.

It wasn’t the end of the drama though as both Bears men – Ben Barker and Mikkel B. Andersen – were excluded ahead of heat 15 after arriving at the start in the wrong helmet colours and then seeing the two minutes elapse.

The fiery Barker – now a Panthers asset - also earned himself a fine for riding through the tapes before having to compete from a 15-metre handicap.

Andersen was replaced by reserve Theo Pijper who promptly powered to victory with Starke and Ostergaard packing the minor places to complete a surprising end to a smooth Panthers success.

There were positives galore with Nicholls enjoying his first race victories in the fourth meeting of the campaign, Emil Grondal continuing his super start to 2018 by going unbeaten by an opponent through his opening three rides, and captain Simon Lambert delivering a pair of triumphs.

Fellow reserve Tom Bacon also contributed well along with middle-order man Nike Lunna, who signed off with a smart success in his final ride.