Sponsored by
Panthers legend is relishing his return to the Showground
THE greatest rider in Panthers history is relishing another return to the Showground tonight.
THE greatest rider in Panthers history is relishing another return to the Showground tonight.Ryan Sullivan – a man from Melbourne who made the city his second home for so long– roars back into his old stomping ground for a mouthwatering World Cup meeting.
A huge crowd is anticipated at Alwalton to see Sullivan and the rest of the Australian team do battle with Poland, Great Britain and Slovenia in Event Two.
The 34 year-old – dubbed Mr Peterborough during his glory days over here – amassed an astonishing 4,017.5 points – more than 1,600 better than the second highest-scoring Panther, Sam Tesar – during 11 years as the darling of the Alwalton faithful.
It is no surprise that he is licking his lips at the prospect of charging round the city shale once again.
"I'm really looking forward to it," said Sullivan. "It is always nice to come back to England and I will be catching up with a few old friends while I am over for a couple of days.
"I obviously love riding at the Showground. I have done a hell of a lot of laps here and it is nice to come back one more time with the Aussie team.
"I struggled more than I would have liked when I rode for Peterborough last year and it is not always easy to go back to a place after a while away.
"The track has changed a little bit down the years and I am on different bikes and engines now, but I have been lucky enough to have a very good career here and it would be great to have one more decent night.
"I'm here is to win a speedway meeting with Australia. You can never rule anyone out in the World Cup, but it looks like we are the favourites on paper."
Sullivan and Jason Crump will be reunited at Alwalton tonight – a decade after they spearheaded Panthers to treble glory in 1999.
The Down Under duo were star turns for a team that romped to Elite League, KO Cup and Craven Shield success. Crump's average of 10.67 that season is the best figure ever achieved by a Panthers rider.
"That was 10 years ago?" enquired Sullivan. "It sounds like such a long time ago and time certainly passes quickly.
"But I can still remember what a successful year it was for the club and it felt really good to win those trophies."
These days Sullivan is based in the Polish town of Torun. He helped the local team, Unibax Torun, to Polish Ekstraliga glory last season and they are hot favourites to retain their crown this time around.
Sullivan also races regularly in the tough Swedish Elitserien for Rospiggarna and admits he loves his current lifestyle, but he refused to rule out returning to British racing at some stage in the future.
He continued: "I am still enjoying living in Poland and things work really well for me over there. Who knows whether I will ever race in England again, but I never say never."Skipper Leigh Adams completes a powerful Australian spearhead alongside Sullivan and Crump tonight with the remaining two places taken by rising star Chris Holder and late call-up Davey Watt.
He has been drafted in after Coventry man Rory Schlein suffered a broken collarbone, broken wrist, finger damage and a knee injury in a crash on Friday night.
Huntingdon-based Danny King, who spent the 2007 and 2008 seasons with Panthers, lines up for a British side skippered by another former Peterborough man, Chris Harris.
Polish racer Piotr Protasiewicz is also no stranger to the Showground after spending two years riding for the city club earlier in the decade.
World Cup report in tomorrow's ET.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Peterborough
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: West
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.