Peterborough Panthers are all set for an ultra-competitive 2023 speedway season, but opening fixture now postponed

Panthers and several of their rivals have pushed the boat out this winter following years of travel restrictions and regulations governing riders’ participation in other leagues which have now been eased.

The outcome is a seven-team Premiership which looks markedly stronger than in recent campaigns, with the likes of Dan Bewley, Emil Sayfutdinov and Panthers’ own Nicki Pedersen amongst the headline attractions.

Panthers were supposed to open their season at Ipswich Witches on Thursday, but that fixture has been postponed because of poor weather.

Phantoms’ first meeting is now at the East of England Arena against Ipswich on Monday (March 27, 7.30pm start).

On team strengthening Lyon said: “You could class it as a bit of a gamble, but I think it’s the right thing to do, and every team pretty much have got a star signing.

“The only exception is probably King’s Lynn, but then they look fairly solid all the way through anyway, so I think there are seven really solid teams.

“I expect it to be a tight league, which is what everybody wants. Sheffield on paper probably look the strongest, but you don’t win anything on paper, and there are certainly seven teams who can go all the way.

“I feel we will be in the mix somewhere, although every team is going to say the same thing at this time of year.

“Realistically it’s all about play-offs, getting there and then anything can happen as we know, so that’s the aim.”

Panthers would have faced a tough opener on paper tonight at Ipswich, especially given their relative lack of track time compared to a Witches side who were able to practice at Foxhall last week.

The Witches hit the headlines last month with the signing of Russian ace Sayfutdinov, whose worldwide ban from competing due to the invasion of Ukraine was lifted earlier in the winter.

Whether or not he takes any time to get back up to speed after a year out remains to be seen, but there’s no doubt it amounts to a high-profile start to the season especially with Jason Doyle still with the Suffolk side and Panthers being led by Danish duo Pedersen and Niels-Kristian Iversen.

Before the meeting was postponed, Lyon said: “It’s the first meeting and some of the boys won’t have turned a wheel by the time they get to Ipswich, so it can be a bit of a lottery in that respect.

“That can be the case for both teams, so we’ll see what happens. We’re always quietly confident going there because we’ve done well there in the last two years, although we do have some different riders.

“Hans (Andersen) is pretty good around Ipswich, as is Benjamin (Basso), and I’m sure Nicki and Niels will deal with it. I think it will be close whatever, whether it’s in our favour or theirs, and I’m sure that will be the case at home too.

“The (aggregate) bonus point is the key this year, and if we could come out of those two meetings with three points out of five, we’d be happy with that for a start.”

Lyon has also confirmed Andersen will take the club captaincy this season following the departure of Scott Nicholls, who led Panthers to the title in 2021.

Lyon said: “I spoke to Hans in the early part of the winter when we decided to go down that road, and I just felt it was the right thing to do.“He’s experienced, he’s a bit of a legend at Peterborough, he wanted to come back and I’ve seen in the pits in the last two years how he is with everyone. He’s a good team man and it was a natural choice for me.”

IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Keynan Rew, Danny King, Erik Riss, Emil Saydutdinov, Danyon Hume, Joe Thompson.

PETERBOROUGH: Nicki Pedersen, Hans Andersen, Richie Worrall, Benjamin Basso, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Ben Cook, Jordan Jenkins.