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Speedway: Panthers tipped for Elite League honours
DIRECTOR of speedway Peter Oakes believes Panthers' line-up compares favourably with all other 2010 teams as the Elite League picture takes shape.
DIRECTOR of speedway Peter Oakes believes Panthers' line-up compares favourably with all other 2010 teams as the Elite League picture takes shape.The city side are being billed as title candidates along with Poole and Belle Vue after putting together a side oozing potential and class for a year in which they celebrate their 40th anniversary.
Danish duo Niels Kristian Iversen and Kenneth Bjerre lead a side featuring new arrivals Troy Batchelor, British Under 21 champion Lewis Bridger, promising Polish prospect Krzysztof Buczkowski and young reserve Adam Roynon. Karol Zabik also returns for a fourth spell with the club.
Only one team - Ipswich - have completed their side for the new season which gets underway in March while several others, including Panthers, are close to being finalised.
The city outfit are among a host of clubs still needing to confirm their exact doubling-up plans, while highly-rated Poole and Eastbourne both need to recruit riders for a permanent reserve berth. Only Lakeside are lagging behind this winter with just three riders officially pencilled in to their plans.
Oakes said: "I think we look very good. We clearly have the potential for considerable improvement - in fact I would say that every rider is capable of boosting his starting average.
"It is very rare for that to actually happen but the potential is certainly there in what should prove to be a very exciting team.
"I have always been a believer in tracking young riders. They are prepared to put everything in they have regardless of the conditions and you don't catch people like Troy and Lewis ever giving up in a race."
South coast big guns Poole are already earning rave reviews for the side they have assembled. The Pirates won the race to capture World Under 21 champion Darcy Ward for his debut Elite League season.
The teenage Australian star, who smashed the East of England Showground track record last season in his only appearance at the city venue, is the hottest property in the business and his presence alongside countryman Chris Holder and experienced Dane Bjarne Pedersen is likely to make Poole favourites for glory.
Oakes also rates a Belle Vue team which boasts a powerful top pair of past Panthers stars Hans Andersen and Peter Karlsson. They are expected to lead the Manchester club to better things after a few seasons in the doldrums.
Oakes added: "Poole's team is the obvious one that seems to be catching everyone's eye.
"Darcy was the rider that virtually every Elite League club wanted. He will clearly put around two-and-a-half to three points on his average which gives Poole instant improvement.
"It is difficult to envisage Bjarne's average remaining as low as it currently is either and with Chris Holder also on board, they appear to have a strong, strong team.
"Belle Vue are another club with a decent side on paper as well. They are a club that has always flattered to deceive in recent times and I certainly wouldn't have said they were bottom of the table material in the past two years.
"Hans and 'PK' obviously provide a good spearhead but I'm not sure how much improvement there is there. Belle Vue will certainly be terribly difficult to beat around their Kirkmanshulme Lane track though.
"But Swindon have been the strongest side on paper for the past three years and haven't won the title. What really matters is making sure your team gel together, that you manage to finish in the top four and then peak at the right time for the play-offs."
Australian charger Jason Doyle is expected to fill the vacancy in the Pirates line-up after missing the whole of 2009 through injury.
Russian national skipper Denis Gizatullin is being strongly linked with a move to the Eagles. Gizatullin recently passed an English exam as part of his application for a work permit over here.
Lakeside are the team with the most work still to do with Krzysztof Kasprzak and brothers Jonas and Daniel Davidsson the only names currently on their teamsheet.
But Adam Shields, Kauko Nieminen, Stuart Robson and Robert Mear have all been rumoured with a return to the Arena Essex Raceway after representing the club last year.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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