MEETING REPORT: Panthers frustrated by the weather

The city side saw a home SGB Championship clash against Berwick called off by referee Paul Carrington around 30 minutes before the scheduled 7.30pm start time.

The East of England Arena track was in terrific condition until being waterlogged by a heavy downpour and promoter Ged Rathbone thanked supporters for their understanding over the late postponement.

He said: “We always do our utmost to get a meeting on, but we were beaten by the heavy rain that started falling around 5.45pm.

“There has been a lot of rain during recent days, but the track was looking great until that late downpour which came at just the wrong time.

“It is so frustrating to lose a fixture on a day which was dry when I arrived and dry when I left Peterborough.

“We thank supporters for being so appreciative of our efforts in doing all we could to allow the meeting to go ahead.”

Panthers now hit the road to Berwick today to face the bottom-of-the-table Bandits on their Shielfield Park shale (7pm).

It will be something of a patched-up Panthers septet, including two guests, which travels north.

Lasse Bjerre is again booked to fill in at number one with Jack Holder in a World Under 21 Championship qualifier, while Newcastle man Ashley Morris will deputise at reserve for the injured Bradley Wilson-Dean.

The Kiwi ace suffered a small fracture to his hand in a crash while riding for Swindon in the SGB Premiership on Thursday. He will also miss tomorrow’s visit to Newcastle.

And Panthers are also without Kenneth Hansen tonight as he recuperates from a heavy spill in Sweden on Thursday.

Hansen suffered a fractured breastbone and rib damage, but defied Swedish doctors who wanted him to remain in hospital in that country for a few days.

Hansen would have attempted to ride against Berwick at Alwalton last night, but will now sit out tonight’s trip.