The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Pedersen quits after half a lap!
Peterborough Panthers have confirmd the shock departure of former World Champion Nicki Pedersen.
Panthers, who race in the Premiership at Leicester on Thursday, have been left reeling by the loss of their number one rider, who has quit the club after less than half a lap of racing.
Returning to the UK for the first time since 2011, Pedersen was the club’s marquee signing of the winter and his presence added to that of Ipswich’s Emil Sayfutdinov was undoubtedly a contributory factor in the club’s best opening-night crowd in years.
But whilst Sayfutdinov starred on-track and helped the Witches to an away win last month, Pedersen crashed out of the meeting after piling into the fence coming off the second bend of the very first race of the night.
He walked away with back and finger injuries, and after intensive treatment made his return to action in the highclass, high-stakes Polish Ekstraliga on Saturday – rolling back the years to score a full 18-point maximum for his club Grudziadz.
But even before that meeting, rumours were circulating in the Polish media that Pedersen would not be returning to the UK and that has now been confirmed by Panthers and the rider.
Pedersen said: “I have to pull out for now and resign as my body is just not fit enough with my injury for the technical British Speedway tracks. “I hope you can find a replacement quickly and move on and focus on the main thing, winning the Premiership.”.
Replacing Pedersen will be no easy task with the majority of riders who wish to be racing in the UK already committed, and the added complication of clubs being restricted to a limited number of visa slots for riders coming in from abroad.
In the short-term, Panthers will be allowed a ‘facility’ on a match-by-match basis, meaning they can replace Pedersen with a guest from another club, and the Dane’s high average in theory means there is more scope than when they were missing riders last year.
But in a case such as tonight, with six of the seven Premiership clubs in action, those options quickly recede and Panthers will therefore head to the East Midlands operating the rider replacement facility, whereby Pedersen’s rides are shared amongst the rest of the team.
That may not be a complete disaster especially with Richie Worrall and skipper Hans Andersen former Leicester riders.
The Lions are captained by former Panthers favourite Chris Harris, and track Grand Prix star Max Fricke as their No.1.
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Justin Sedgmen, Richard Lawson, Chris Harris, Nick Morris, Jake Allen, Dan Thompson.
PANTHERS R/R, Hans Andersen, Richie Worrall, Benjamin Basso, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Ben Cook, Jordan Jenkins.
ARENA UPDATE
Panthers officials have confirmed that as things stand this will be the last season of speedway at the East of England Arena, but they have not given up on finding an alternative venue.
Full story at www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk