Hungry Wolves roar to a big win
Wolverhampton dismantled a patched-up Peterborough side to run up a big 62-28 victory at Monmore Green last night.
The Parrys International Wolves looked like they could be troubling the record books in the early stages as they roared into a 20-4 lead with four opening 5-1s, and their win on the night was never threatened.
Thankfully though the Panthers, who were without three senior riders, did get stuck in with Chris Harris producing some of his trademark racing moves to keep plenty of entertainment in the meeting.
The home side all enjoyed a good pay night in the absence of injured skipper Sam Masters, who was present in the pits after a successful collarbone operation in Poland over the weekend.
Masters is yet to put a timescale on his likely return but will have been impressed with what he saw from his team-mates, who put on an efficient display of fast gating in those first four heats, with the Panthers looking all at sea.
It could well have been five 5-1s too but for Harris snatching second place from Ryan Douglas going into the last lap of Heat 5 when the Australian appeared to be slowing, and a frantic battle in the next race saw Harris lead only to be passed by Luke Becker and Steve Worrall before Harris made it back past Worrall on the outside.
Worrall was forced to fight hard in Heat 8 before overcoming Benajmin Basso and teaming up with Leon Flint for the fifth 5-1 of the night, with Flint unbeaten at that stage before he lost out to Hans Andersen in his next outing.
Former Wolves man Broc Nicol threatened a surprise in Heat 9 when he gated with Harris, but his steel shoe worked loose and Douglas and Becker worked their way through to share the race.
Harris pulled off a superb ride for the visitors to switch inside Morris going into the last lap of Heat 11, but the home side’s points were already in the bag as they led 46-20.
They added two further 5-1s in Heats 12 and 14 with Drew Kemp riding superbly in the latter to get the better of Andersen into the first bend, even though there was no answer to the flying Harris in Heats 13 and 15.
Wolves now take a fortnight off before their next home meeting against Sheffield on Monday August 22.
WOLVERHAMPTON 62: Luke Becker 13+3, Steve Worrall 13+1, Nick Morris 11+2, Leon Flint 9+3, Ryan Douglas 8+1, Drew Kemp 8+1, Sam Masters r/r.
PETERBOROUGH 28: Chris Harris 17, Hans Andersen 6, Broc Nicol 2, Jordan Jenkins 1+1, Benjamin Basso 1, Jake Mulford 1, Michael Palm Toft r/r.
