Legends of Peterborough Panthers among those to share their memories of life at the Showground

KEVIN HAWKINS

Kevin Hawkins will never forget his first visit to the East of England Showground…even if he didn’t know it also hosted speedway.

Hawkins, a former skipper who went on to manage the first league winning Panthers’ team in 1992, still vividly recalls his first trip, the day after his 16th birthday, to what would become his home-from-home.

He not only spent seven years racing for the Panthers, and then another five glorious seasons as team boss, but he and his wife Anne (sister of another ex-Panthers Ken Matthews) settled in Yaxley, where they still live, less than seven miles from the track.

Kevin said: “I was 16 on July 21, 1970, and the next day I bought my first motorbike, an Ariel Arrow.

“I was living in Buckingham and my best mate, Chris Whitehead, was a farmer’s son. He was a couple of months older and also had a bike, and suggested that we took a 70-mile ride over to Peterborough because there was an agricultural show on.

“It was either the first of the second day of the East of England Show and I know now that there was a speedway meeting on straight after the show on the Wednesday night, but I don’t think we stayed for it. I certainly can’t remember seeing speedway that day.

“I used to go to Oxford for meetings, but had no idea there was speedway at Peterborough. I imagine, because it was the first day I’d ever ridden my bike, that I was told I had to be home well before it started to get dark.”

Hawkins signed for the Panthers in 1976, spent three seasons in Division Two before moving to First Division Coventry in 1979. When his career with the Bees was over he returned to Alwalton in 1985 and was there for another four years before retiring at the end of 1988 after a fall-out with the then promoter David Hawkins.

During his two spells he was in three Four Team Championship winning sides (1977, 1978 and 1985).

He was tempted back as team manager in 1992 and helped guide the Panthers to three major titles, including the 1992 League and Cup double.

Hawkins added: “I never knew then that I would end up doing so many laps of the Showground, winning the Fours three times and then managing the first league winning side in the club’s history. I loved my time there,”

Hawkins spent the ‘Farewell’ meeting in the company of a group of former Panthers, including brother-in-law Ken Matthews, Brian Clark, Richard Greer, Roy Carter, Frank Smith, Neil Cotton, Roy Sizmore, Ian Barney, Ian Clarke and Paul Tapp.

And it wasn’t only ex-Panthers who wanted to be at what could be the last ever meeting at the iconic Showground venue.

NEIL MIDDLEDITCH

Former Great Britain boss Neil Middleditch never rode for the Panthers throughout his 14-year career, but he could so easily have done so!

He remembers: “I was, and still am, very friendly with John Davis who rode for the Panthers between 1971 and 1973. I remember travelling with him, I think it was for a pre-season practice, in 1972 when I was only 15.

PAUL HURRY

Riders of a more recent generation also spent Saturday night at the Showground including Paul Hurry, who partnered Jason Crump at reserve in the first of his two seasons as a Panther, in the double-winning 1992 campaign.

And Hurry even took along the bike that he rode throughout 1992 in what turned out to be a vain hope of having a last lap of the Alwalton circuit.

He said: “I was still 16 when I agreed to sign for the Panthers after my previous club Arena Essex went into the First Division and the track was so different to what I had been used to, so much bigger.”

Hurry, who is now one of four directors of the governing body, the Speedway Control Bureau, added: “I had a great two years there. I’d won the league with the Hammers in 1991 and did it again with the Panthers. It help me get used to riding a big, fast track and I went on to race in a World Cup Final and that was probably down to the experience I got at Peterborough while still in my teens.

“Then I went back again in 2021 and experienced all the joys of winning a league, this time not as a rider but as Scott Nicholls’ mechanic.”

OLLIE ALLEN

Also there were David Howe and Oliver Allen, who were still at school when they made their Peterborough debuts and helped the Thundercats win the 1997 Amateur League.

Howe began his speedway career as the Panthers’ mascot and has the unique distinction of having won the league with Peterborough at all three levels, going on to be an automatic regular in both 1998 (Premier League) and 1999 (Elite League).

Allen was one of his teammates in both 1997 and 1998 and followed in his father’s tyre tracks, Dave having ridden for Peterborough between 1981 and 1986.

Olly admitted: “Every visit brings back so many memories. I was only 13 or 14 when I started there in demonstration rides and without Peterborough I don’t know whether I would ever have had a speedway career.

“My Dad used to take me every week because I was too young to drive and even though I rode for a lot of other teams, Peterborough was always my team. I started there and finished there, retiring after breaking my ankle in one of the first meetings of 2015.”

There were heartfelt messages from some of the track heroes of yesteryear, those who weren’t able to be there on the last night of the Panthers Proms!

RYAN SULLIVAN

Ryan Sullivan, who became a legend and is the all-time top points scorer, had his British baptism at the Showground. He was representing Australia in the world under 21 championship and said: “Peterborough speedway has had a huge impact on my career and life. Peterborough became my hometown and heading to the Showground on a Friday evening to go racing was something that I loved, and I will remember forever. Great fans and so many great memories. It is very sad that the Panthers are leaving their home and I only hope it is to a new home close by.”

MICK POOLE

Another Australian, Mike Poole, who became an adopted Peterborian being based at Whittlesey with the Warren family for so many years, added: “Every time I raced there, I’d have this buzz all day. I absolutely loved it. Coming from Western Sydney, as an unknown to have fans cheering me on is very special and I will never forget that feeling. I owe the club and the Showground so much. I am gutted that it will be no more. Thank you to all the fans, officials, riders and promotional teams I have managed to meet, and I still have some of them as lifelong friends.”

FAN FRANK HARRIS

It was a night when riders took the laps back to their younger days, thoughts flooded with tales of crashes and winning races but it was also a night that very much belonged to the fans.

So what better than reading the reminisces of one of them, Frank Harris who has been following the Panthers, home and away, for more than half a century.

He wrote: “2006 Championship…1998 winning nearly everything going…1992 Championship and KO Cup double…Glenn Cunningham winning the Riders’ Championship in 1998…Crumpy winning Riders’ Championship and Grand Prix…Ryan winning the Inter-Continental Final…Winning all the Fours titles…Glenn and Woody winning the Pairs at Newport…Mark Loram signing for the Panthers…Suzy Perry on our table at the 1999 End of Season dinner…Ulrich winning the Riders’ Championship in 2005…my daughter becoming Miss Peterborough Speedway and representing the Panthers at two Riders’ Championships at Coventry in the Miss NL Final and coming runner-up twice and whilst with Paul Hurry became Miss Maidstone also…drinking champagne out of the cup in 1999 with Jim Lynch and Ian Jarvis…enjoying 51 years as a loyal Panthers fan…having Jamie Habbin asleep on our settee after Northern trips…helping riders with tyres, mudguards and loads of other stuff…travelling around with Andy Giddings and his team when he rode in the junior team…wow, I’ve had as great life with the Panthers.”