Danny shows his class against the Panthers

17 May 2010
Posted in Ipswich Witches

Danny produced his best form of the season right on cue against his old club Peterborough Panthers in both the Alwalton and Foxhall encounters across the May Day Bank Holiday weekend.

At Peterborough, on a night when the rain played a big part in proceedings early on and caused a long delay, Danny simply mastered a wet track that he knows so well and scorched to the fastest time of the night in heat seven with 61.0 seconds as he led home Claus Vissing for a 5-1 over Troy Batchelor and Linus Eklof. That was enough to persuade Team Manager Pete Simmons to give Danny the double point tactical ride in heat 10 and he duly delivered with another race win to narrow to the deficit to 27-36 at that stage. Some of Danny’s rides were vintage Kingy around the East of England Showground and were a sharp reminder of his days as a Panther and his performance for Team GB in the 2009 Speedway World Cup.

Danny then took heat 14 with a win over the in-form Kenneth Bjerre and that 4-2 (with Linus Sundstrom in third) gave the Witches the chance of an unexpected match point in the final race. Danny hit bad luck however for the only time during the weekend when lubricant was accidentally applied to his clutch plates making him spin too much off the start line in heat 15. On a night when gating really was paramount, that then was pretty much it as Panthers edged home 51-42.

Heat results

Heat 01: Allen, Iversen, Ostergaard, Nicholls ret 3-3 62.7
Heat 02: Buczkowski, Sundstrom, Eklof, Hughes 4-2 7-5 62.9
Heat 03: Bjerre, Vissing, King, Bridger ret 3-3 10-8 61.3
Heat 04: Buczkowski, Batchelor, Jacobs, Sundstrom ret 5-1 15-9 63.1
Heat 05: Bjerre, Allen, Bridger, Nicholls 4-2 19-11 61.6
Heat 06: Ostergaard, Iversen, Hughes, Jacobs 5-1 24-12 63.0
Heat 07: King, Vissing, Batchelor, Eklof 1-5 25-17 61.0
Heat 08: Allen, Ostergaard, Buczkowski, Sundstrom Fx 3-3 28-20 No Time - awarded
Heat 09: Bjerre, Bridger, Sundstrom, Hughes 5-1 33-21 63.0
Heat 10: King, Iversen, Ostergaard, Vissing ret 3-6 36-27 61.8
Heat 11: Batchelor, Nicholls, Allen, Eklof 3-3 39-30 61.7
Heat 12: Vissing, Buczkowski, Bridger, Sundstrom 3-3 42-33 62.9
Heat 13: Nicholls, Iversen, Batchelor, Jacobs 3-3 45-36 62.5
Heat 14: King, Bjerre, Sundstrom, Buczkowski 2-4 47-40 62.5
Heat 15: Re-run Iversen, Nicholls, Bjerre, King 4-2 51-42 62.3

In the return at Foxhall on Bank Holiday Monday afternoon, again the weather played a part with a pre-meeting shower making the track greasy early on and once again mid-meeting but it didn’t stop Danny and his Witches team mates from enjoying a successful afternoon against their local rivals with a well earned 50-43 win and all three points on offer.

The meeting itself was tight throughout and Danny with wins in heats 3 and 9 ensured that he gave solid backing to maximum man Scott Nicholls. Pole Robert Miskowiak matched Danny’s contribution of 10 points from four rides to give the Witches the solid scoring from their top three that has been missing at times so far this season.

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Heat Results

Heat 01: Re-run Nicholls, Ostergaard, Allen 4-2 59.3
Heat 02: Eklof, Sedgmen, Graversen, Skidmore 2-4 6-6 59.9
Heat 03: King, Bridger, Bjerre, Vissing 3-3 9-9 59.0
Heat 04: Miskowiak, Batchelor, Skidmore, Eklof 4-2 13-11 60.2
Heat 05: Iversen, King, Vissing, Ostergaard 3-3 16-14 59.2
Heat 06: Sedgmen, Nicholls, Eklof, Batchelor 5-1 21-15 61.3
Heat 07: Bjerre, Miskowiak, Bridger, Skidmore 2-4 23-19 59.6
Heat 08: Ostergaard, Sedgmen, Skidmore, Graversen 3-3 26-22 60.2
Heat 09: King, Batchelor, Eklof, Vissing 3-3 29-25 60.1
Heat 10: Re-run Nicholls, Bjerre, Sedgmen 4-2 33-27 60.2
Heat 11: Iversen, Miskowiak, Ostergaard, Sedgmen 2-4 35-31 59.8
Heat 12: Vissing, Bridger, Sedgmen, Eklof 4-2 39-33 60.6
Heat 13: Re-run Miskowiak, Nicholls, Iversen 5-1 44-34 60.0
Heat 14: Bjerre, King, Sedgmen, Graversen 3-6 47-40 59.4
Heat 15: Nicholls, Bjerre, Iversen, Miskowiak 3-3 50-43 59.7