Peterborough 34 Wolves 38

The win means that, barring a highly unlikely 13-point reversal in the return at home to Peterborough, Wolves will emerge top of the pile in this three-team Midland League competition against the Panthers and Coventry.

That's all well and good, but of far greater significance to the visitors is that all team members emerged unsc-athed for Monday's Elite League decider at Swindon.

Sadly, that's more than can be said of the Panthers' Henning Bager, who was taken to hospital after an horrendous smash with Chris Kerr in heat 12.

Bager received lengthy attention on the track before being removed by ambulance. The track doctor accompanied him and without that medical cover the meeting was closed as it would have run past curfew.

It was confirmed today that Bager had sustained a badly broken leg.

On a brighter note, racing was keen and competitive with no signs of the Parrys International Wolves taking a breather before Monday's showdown.

No-one was keener or more competitive than skip-per Peter Karlsson. Despite adding what appears to be a respiratory infection to his recently broken collarbone, the captain excelled with craft and commitment.

Immensely popular at the Showground, the former Panther missed the start in his first race and although he muscled past Mads Korneliussen on the second lap had left himself too much to do to overhaul Bager.

But he turned on the style second time round, fading his run round the outside of Ales Dryml and then hunting down home number one Niels Kristian Iversen before executing a fine pass.

Karlsson was now in his element, using every line on the track and at one point going wide enough to flick copious patches of shale onto the back straight fence of the Alwalton bowl.

Kenneth Bjerre got the drop on him in heat nine, but the Swede simply steamed inside him on the home straight Wolves, after falling six points behind, effectively won the meeting with a mid-meeting surge that saw them provide five successive heat winners and outscore their hosts 21-9.

Fredrik Lindgren, after a heat one loss to Iversen, was not headed in his next two outings, while Nicolai Klindt, on the World Under-21 final engine brought over by his father Torben, looked very quick and well worth his paid nine return.

Indeed Lindgren, sporting between races a fetching red and white Jawa bobble hat with snow motif and white pompom, looked perfectly capable of going through the rest of the card unbeaten had the meeting been able to continue.

Tai Woffinden and Adam Skornicki suffered the rare indignity of conceding a brace of 5-1s, but also managed to return the favour in heat seven.

There were good points at reserve for Chris Kerr and Ty Proctor and, all in all, Wolves looked in good shape for next week's main event.

Last night was their sixth win on the trot and the visiting pits were full of cheer and bounce – literally, in the case of the riders who amused themselves between heats by playing with a power ball.

Now it's all about taking the bounce out of the Robins on Monday.