Niels at number one reflects badly on Peterborough Panthers

In the latest ‘Class of 2023’ feature Iversen spoke to Holeshot Media.

“Getting off the bottom of the league has to be our aim and I do believe we can do that. That has to be our aim, it would help to change the whole atmosphere with the fans and the club and it is important not to finish with the wooden spoon.

“We are not a league winning team but when everyone performs we do have a decent side.

“After Thursday we will only have one away meeting left, at Sheffield, the rest are home meetings and it’s definitely a possibility that we can get some good results on our own track.

“We can’t think about getting into the play-offs, they have gone, and it’s just about getting some pride back in the team and the club.

"That’s got to be the aim, winning as many as we possibly can for our fans at the Showground. I think we have seven home matches to go in the league and another, against Ipswich, in the knockout cup so we still have to keep going for the rest of the season.

“We have almost rode more times at Ipswich than at home. It will be nice to get some of those home meetings. We haven’t been there for a month or so now and it was something like a month between our last home meeting against Belle Vue and the meeting before that.

“I won’t say it affects me personally, but it is always easier to get wins at home rather than away. Winning is always a boost to team spirit, everything is better when we are winning matches.

“We had a good meeting at Wolves, we didn’t win but we came away with a draw [Peterborough lost in a Superheat but still claimed their first away point of the season in the losing draw]. That was a big boost for the team and everyone was happy after that, but then our next home meeting was postponed because of the weather. The more you win, the better the atmosphere is going to be, that applies to the fans as well as the riders.

“I feel bad being at the bottom, but it is what it is and we can’t go back and change it.

"But we have to try and bring some results in. It’s tough being bottom and the atmosphere is not great, our fans are moaning and everything has an effect because everyone, the fans and us, want to win.

“I have got my Facebook and Instagram and while I don’t sit and read everything, I do come across what the fans are saying and it is what it is. It’s always better when there are nice things to read and it is always more fun to be part of a winning team.

“This season is a little more difficult than I wanted, I expected to adapt to the British tracks again better than I have. I know I can do well but I haven’t, especially on the smaller tracks. I struggled to get on with my set-ups of the bike, I did fairly decent around Belle Vue, Peterborough has been okay, although there have been a couple of meetings there where I haven’t been happy and I’m hoping I can pick up before the end of the season.

“I have been riding number one and I haven’t been happy with my form, I haven’t been riding as well as I probably should have been and the fact I am number one shows the team isn’t as good as it should have been.

"At most other teams I would have been second or third heat leader and it’s more difficult for me to be in the number one position and lead the team when I feel like I’m not at my best although I try to get on with things and do the best that I can.

“Over the last handful of meetings things have been better for me, I have been in double figures most of the time apart from Ipswich last week when I was rubbish. I had a decent one at Wolverhampton, at Leicester I was pretty good, and the time before at Ipswich I was 12 plus a bonus point.

“I know I have a lot more to show, especially on my home track. It’s somewhere that suits me very well but not racing regularly, not racing regularly at home, it’s been so long between meetings, doesn’t help you.

“My form elsewhere has been alright, in Denmark, it’s the best it has been for three or four years and in Poland I have been going quite consistently well. I have had a few meetings where I haven’t been great, but apart from that it’s been going pretty well.

“It’s been better than last year or the year before and it’s feel better than what it has been for a couple of years which is important.

“Both 2020 and 2021 were write-offs because of injuries and I wasn’t actually sure if I was going to ride after 2021. It was tough deciding to try and build myself back up.

“This year has been another step in the right direction but you can say I’m not where I want to be, but I feel I am getting there. I spent a lot of nights in hospital in Poland in the summer of 2021 with six or seven broken bones and because of that I wasn’t sure I was going to ride again. I was at the stage where I’d had enough, but I had time to sit and think about it and I missed it, you do.

“I’ll definitely carry on next year. I have definitely improved this year over last year and the main thing is you feel good about what you are doing and I do.”

Iversen will be back at the East of England Arena with the rest of the Crendon Panthers next Monday (7.30pm, July 31) when play-off chasing Wolverhampton are the visitors.