Wolves 51 Peterborough 38

Freddie Lindgren showed the silk and the steel as Wolves notched that rare feat, a comfortable win.

Lindgren, back from his dreadful fall on August 1, looked a touch subdued after running a quiet third place in his opening ride, followed by a spin and fall on turn two.

But a routine victory in heat 10 proved the prelude to a superb ride in the all-star heat 13 against old rival Nicki Pedersen and the hither to unbeaten Troy Batchelor.

The Panthers led from the gate, but Lindgren gave it everything on his approach to the pits turn on lap two and sliced between them coming out of the exit.

If that was the finesse, heat 15 saw the force. Pedersen had incurred the wrath of the crowd in heat 11 when he was twice beaten out of the start by Peter Karlsson and, on each occasion, his first bend manoeuvre saw the luckless Lubos Tomicek in the air fence.

While the first incident looked innocuous enough, the second might well have suggested to the more cynical spectator an attempt to get the race stopped for a rerun.

All four back was the ruling on each occasion – Karlsson won at the third attempt – and, ironically, the first effort to run heat 15 saw a similar scenario, this time with Lindgren depositing Pedersen into the padding.

The Dane was unimpressed, Lindgren unmoved, but Pedersen suffered greater pain in the rerun when bunching meant he was one of three riders to come off.

A leg injury saw him miss the final staging of the race. Peterborough needed a 5-1 to scrape a point, but it was Wolves who signed off with a maximum heat win from Lindgren and Tai Woffinden to seal their first three-point league victory since May 2.

Woffinden looked pin-sharp all evening, electric from the tapes and incisive on the first turn. The forward-facing helmet camera he wore for his first race will not have had other riders in shot for very long.

Curiously, his one major drama came in heat nine, the only race where he dropped points.

Woffinden was running third before a huge locker on turn two threatened a disaster, averted only by an heroic ‘save’ in which he even managed to retain his placing.

Wolves, with skipper Karlsson much more effective had top-end clout, second-string strength and some punch at reserve with Ricky Wells contributing paid 10.

James Grieves improved as the meeting went on while Ty Proctor showed as much determination on track, as he displayed when collecting Speedway Riders Benevolent Fund contributions during the interval.

Proctor would have finished with paid 10 but had to abandon ship on a 5-1 in heat eight, when race leader Wells looked a certain faller coming out of the pits turn.

By Tim Hamblin