Peterborough Panthers rider ‘Bomber’ Harris survives bad crash

The series had been scheduled to conclude at Leicester on Monday in a meeting already switched from Sheffield due to stadium availability issues at Owlerton, but it was then rained off twice in the East Midlands.

Ipswich have been confirmed as winners, having been 12 points clear from the five rounds which did take place, whilst Panthers – as in the regular league competition – finished bottom of the six competing clubs.

That wasn’t without a degree of controversy due to the ending of last Thursday’s fifth round at Belle Vue, where Panthers thought they had finished third on the night only to be subsequently demoted to fourth.

Peterborough, Wolverhampton and Sheffield all finished level on 20 points with one semi-final place available, and the referee’s decision was that a ballot to separate the teams should take place – with Panthers’ name pulled out.

They then would have made the final, but for Chris ‘Bomber’ Harris suffering a spectacular crash on the last bend, but the following day came a ruling from the Speedway Control Bureau that it should have been Wolverhampton in the race anyway!

"What a farce,” Panthers team boss Rob Lyon said. “We should have just let a rider from each club race off.”

The biggest relief was to see Harris walk away unscathed. He was even able to attend Panthers’ end-of-season presentations, where Benjamin Basso won the fans’ vote as Rider of the Year.