Panthers crashed to yet another disappointing defeat at Foxhall on Bank Holiday Monday to continue their poor start to the season.

It was clear the track wasn't ideal, riding on a scorching sunny afternoon generally plays havoc with track preparations and this one didn't disappoint, but even so this was another dire performance by the Panthers in front of a good crowd swelled by a healthy Peterborough contingent.

Captain Hans Andersen continued his recent luck with the coin toss by losing again with Ipswich taking 1+3, even so Andersen & Risager both made decent starts in heat 1 but by the end of the first corner Swiderski had hit the front and with Andersen suffering ignition problems and grinding to a halt on the second bend, Johnston caught and passed Risager for a opening Witches 5-1.

Henrik Moller and Ty Procter then surprised everyone by bursting from the gate in heat 2 and led out of the second bend as Chris Schramm went down at the back, the race continued with Schramm slowly getting back on and he then bizarrely obstructed everyone as the came round to lap him, Referee Daniel Holt then stopped the race, excluding Schramm but of course in the rerun Kroner gratefully accepted a second chance and left the Panthers pair at the gate.

Heat 3 again initially looked good with Kenneth Bjerre and Claus Vissing leading into the first corner, Bjerre looking quick was never troubled but Vissing was clearly struggling with track conditions and he was passed by both of the Witches early on.

Jarek Hampel and Chris Schramm both made the best starts to lead heat 4 but Danny King slowly reeled Schramm in and passed him on lap 3 to restrict the Ipswich advantage.

Andersen's afternoon of disappointment continued in 5 with the referee adjudging him the guilty party in the demise of Johnston on the first corner, and in the rerun they made no mistake to record another 5-1 to lead 20-10 after 5 heats.

Miskowiak made a good start to lead the 6th, Swiderski came hard up the inside to join him and somehow found extra grip he didn't want or need sweeping across the front of Miskowiak and taken both of them through the safety fence.

It was clear to everyone that Miskowiak wasn't best pleased with his team mate as he stormed off back to the pits, but he easily won the rerun after a short delay while trackstaff reconstructed the fence.

Bjerre donned the black and white helmet colour in heat 7 but was unable to repeat his earlier gating success and never really troubled the home pair, and team manager Trevor Swales elected to put Andersen of 15 metres in last ditch attempt to close the gap in heat 8.

It looked like it was going to be another disaster with Andersen coming down on his own on the first corner, but he quickly remounted which was just as well as Schramm piled into the airfence on the next bend with the referee stopping the race.

In the rerun Risager made a great start and led all the way whilst under pressure by Swiderski until the last corner when he went wide allowing Swiderski to beat him on the run in to the line.

Ipswich kept the pressure on by knocking in 5-1's in the next two races and at the end of heat 10 had stretched the lead to 41-20.

Andersen won his only heat of the afternoon with a tidy start and first corner in heat 11 but with Risager at the back the heat was shared.

Witches then piled on the agony in heat's 12 to 14 with Andersen only managing to prevent three successive maximums by splitting the home pair in the heat 13, but even he was powerless to stop race winner Swiderski who passed and left him early on.

Panthers gained their only real and straightforward heat advantage in the final heat as Danny King took full advantage of a decent start to go wide on the first corner.

Quite how Panthers get themselves out of this rut is at this moment unclear, but it's now affecting everyone with not even a team meeting during the interval having a great effect points wise.

Losing away matches is one thing that most supporters can understand and accept but losing in this style is quite another with the knock on effect detrimental to everyone, supporters, management and riders.

Ipswich Evening Star Witches 60
1. Chris Louis R/R
2. Piotr Swiderski 3-X-3-2'-3 = 11+1
3. Robert Miskowiak 1'-2'-3-3-3-2 = 14+2
4. Steve Johnston 2'-2-3-2'-2'-0 = 11+3
5. Jarek Hampel 3-3-3-2-1 = 12
6. Tobi Kroner 3-2'-1'-3 = 9+2
7. Chris Schramm X-1-X-2' = 3+1

Peterborough Muscle Finesse Panthers 31
1. Hans Andersen R-X-2'-3-2-1 = 8+1
2. Morten Risager 1-1-2-0 = 4
3. Kenneth Bjerre 3-1-1-R = 5
4. Claus Vissing 0-0-R-1 = 1
5. Danny King 2-2-1-0-3 = 8
6. Ty Procter 2-1'-0-1 = 4+1
7. Henrik Moller 1'-0-R = 1+1