THE Buildbase Bees got the better of Peterborough in a thoroughly entertaining fixture in front of the Sky Sports cameras at Brandon on Monday.

The troubled Panthers never folded even though Bees had control for much of the evening, and the result was not confirmed until an excellent penultimate race.

The stadium was fortunate to avoid the torrential downpours in the area, and the natural watering of a short shower shortly before start-time helped to provide fine track conditions.

In-form Simon Stead put the Bees in front with an outside pass on Kenneth Bjerre in Heat 3, and Coventry would have gone further clear but for falls by Ben Barker in Heat 4 and Olly Allen in Heat 6.

But Allen and Barker got it right in Heat 8 to record a 5-1, and Allen then pulled off one of the rides of the season to pass both Bjerre and Henning Bager in one thrilling move during Heat 10.

The Panthers pegged the gap at six points and had some hope when Bager and Ty Proctor gated in Heat 14 - but Billy Janniro made it around the outside of Proctor, and the ever-battling Barker followed him through at the start of the last lap to secure the points.

Bees boss Peter Oakes said: "It was a good performance, we're still not firing on all cylinders but this was a night when we had enough to see us through relatively comfortably.

"There was passing in the majority of races, and we got a lot of our points from the back. It seemed to be a terrific meeting, although sometimes you can lose track of that!"

BUILDBASE BEES: 48: Simon Stead 12+1, Chris Harris 9+1, Rory Schlein 8+1, Olly Allen 8, Ben Barker 7+1, Billy Janniro 4+2, Andreas Messing 0.

PETERBOROUGH 42: Bjarne Pedersen 12, Kenneth Bjerre 9, Daniel King 5+2, Morten Risager 5+1, Claus Vissing 4, Henning Bager 4, Ty Proctor 3+1.