A sad end to the season for one of speedway’s nice guys and a Peterborough Panthers fans’ favourite

The fans’ favourite, widely regarded as one of the sport’s nice guys, crashed out of the final Grand Prix in Torun on Saturday – and then suffered rib injuries in a Polish League play-off the following day.

It’s been an injury-ravaged season for the Danish star who admits he has been through a dreadful time.

“I’ve just had injury after injury and I’m pleased it’s all over now,” Iversen said.

“I just hope it’s not the end of my Grand Prix career, I don’t want it to end like this.

“I’ve had some great times in the Grand Prix and I still feel, even though I’m not as young as I was, I’ve got more to give at that level.

“I tried everything I could this year, but it didn’t help with the series being run over a period of four weekends in six.

“I never had time to recover as the meetings came thick and fast and if it was a normal schedule I think I would have done a lot better.

“I still have faith in my own ability. I’ve now raced in 100 Grand Prix meetings and I don’t want Saturday to be the last one that’s for sure.

“From the moment I went over to Poland I was on the back foot because of injury and I crashed in practice. This year needs to go away fast, I could use stronger words but I won’t here.

“I want to thank all my fans who have stayed behind me and look forward to a fresh start in 2021.”

Iversen needed a pick from Grand Prix organisers for next year, but it was no major surprise when he missed out on Monday with Anders Thomsen, the new Danish Champion, getting the nod for his debut GP campaign.

Thomsen raced for Panthers in 2015 and 2016 and remains popular with Alwalton fans.

Polish racer Bartosz Zmarzlik won the Torun Grand Prix with Maciej Janowski, also of Poland, second.