Psychological help for Basso, but no McDonalds or Burger King!

​The big battle is for Panthers to climb out of bottom spot in the table and Danish star Ben Basso will have an important part to play.

In this week’s Class of 2023, he talks about how he has adjusted to the busy life of riding in Denmark, Poland, Sweden and Great Britain – he also races in the second tier Championship for play-off chasing Glasgow – every week.

​“It’s been a tough season with Peterborough for lots of reasons obviously.

“You never want to see a club close down so I really hope something can be done.

“It’s a great club and I have loved racing for them.

"We obviously want to do better all the time, but the results haven’t happened.

"All we can do is keep fighting until the end.

“I went down the route of psychological assistance because I feel with speedway the mental part plays a big role.

“When you are riding in four different countries every week you are under pressure all the time.

“A lot of that time you haven’t slept or eaten properly, but you still need to perform in every race.

"It’s so important to be strong mentally.

“There’s no chance for recovery time. You need to switch off from a bad race or a bad meeting immediately so that doesn’t carry over to the next one.

“That’s quite a difficult thing to manage, but it’s working really well for me right now.

“I feel I have now adapted to the travelling.

"This season is not such a big thing. It’s just part of the job.

“Last year I hadn’t tried it before and it was a shock to the system a little bit.

“The travelling is the toughest element of speedway.

"You also have to think about what you are eating all the time.

“During the off season you train a lot and do a lot of cardio.

"Then during the season you step down to maybe half of the training you have been doing.

“I am trying very hard to work on my food preparation as well, but that is always hard on the move as I can be in four countries in maybe four days.

“It’s just about making the right choices when you have to eat and not take the easy option of a take-away like McDonald’s or Burger King.

“I just prefer chicken and to always eat as clean as I can.

"It’s hard but you have to be disciplined.”