Peterborough Panthers v Wolverhampton Wolves

PETERBOROUGH kept up their strong run at the end of the season with a 54-36 win over play-off qualifiers Wolverhampton.

It was a fourth successive victory in the Sports Insure Premiership for the Panthers, who achieved the result without Artem Laguta who had pulled out with an ankle injury.

Vadim Tarasenko starred again for the hosts with 13 points whist Niels-Kristian Iversen added 11 and reserve Ben Cook (10+2) was only denied a paid maximum by a chain failure on the last bend of Heat 14.

Luke Becker scored 11 for Wolves as the visitors were restricted to just two race wins.

Panthers boss Rob Lyon said: “Obviously it was a bit of a dead rubber for Wolves, but we wanted to win and keep the run going.

“It’s a strange situation because we couldn’t buy a win for the first two-thirds of the season, and now we’re winning in a canter, and you can see that with the team we have now.

“It’s been a pleasure, very enjoyable, and I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve said if we’d had this team and the start of the season we’d be in the play-offs – but that’s speedway.”

Wolves manager Peter Adams said: “We’re in the unusual position here where, arguably, the best team in the league aren’t going to be in the play-offs.

“They rode very well did Peterborough, but for us now it’s just about staying as healthy as we can. We now look forward to the matches that are really going to matter.”

SPORTS INSURE PREMIERSHIP R2
PETERBOROUGH 54: Vadim Tarasenko 13, Niels-Kristian Iversen 11, Ben Cook 10+2, Benjamin Basso 8, Chris Harris 5, Richard Lawson 4, Jordan Jenkins 3+1.
WOLVERHAMPTON 36: Luke Becker 11, Ryan Douglas 7, Steve Worrall 6+2, Sam Masters 6+1, Rory Schlein 2+2, Zach Cook 2, Leon Flint 2.
Peterborough win the aggregate point

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Photo credit: JEFF DAVIES