Peterborough Panthers 59, Oxford Silver Machine 31: Five meetings in six days finally took their toll on the Oxford Silver Machine as they were taken apart by the Peterborough Panthers in their Elite League clash at the East of England Showground on Tuesday night.

Todd Wiltshire

Oxford were behind from the very first heat as Peterborough, keen to make a good impression in front of the Sky Sports TV cameras, gained a 4-2 advantage.

Thanks to a good ride from Jernej Kolenko in the reserves race, Machine managed to managed to draw heat two.

But Panthers were soon racing clear. Although Ulamek made a lightning start in the third heat, he went too wide on the fourth turn and allowed the Panthers pair through to record their first maximum of the night.

Silver Machine were 12 points behind after just seven heats and team manager Nigel Wagstaff acted to try and stem the tide.

Nicki Pedersen duly won heat eight, but with Travis McGowan rooted to the back, it made no impression on the scoreline.

Ulamek was brought out in heat nine, but the recent injuries suffered by the Pole were obvious for all to see as he had his first of two pointless rides. Pedersen won his second race on the trot to hold the deficit to 12 points..

Todd Wiltshire was drafted into heat ten but he could not get the better of Ryan Sullivan, allowing the Panthers to pull further ahead.

With all the tactical sub- stitutions now used up, Oxford were on slippery slope and conceded three maximum heats and a Peterbrough 4-2 to sit 28 points before the final race.

Wiltshire won it with a most amazing sweep around the boards on the first and second turn to lead the pack for the rest of the race. But with Pedersen coming last, the margin remained the same.

Unfortunately, the Silver Machine just could not to get grips with the Showground strip and have left themselves a mountain to climb to gain the aggregate bonus point when the Panthers visit Sandy Lane on June 6.