PREMIERSHIP PAIRS Round 1 PREVIEW

PETEBOROUGH stage the opening round of the new-look Premiership Pairs at the East of England Arena tonight (Monday).

The competition is back on the calendar for the first time since 2017 but this time with a round being staged at each of the six tracks in the top league, with series points accumulating over the summer.

And Monday’s line-up is packed full of top Premiership stars, including former World Champion Jason Doyle, fellow Grand Prix regulars Max Fricke and Jack Holder, and British Champions Adam Ellis and Danny King – as well as the Panthers’ own Chris Harris

All six clubs will race against each other once during the 15 regular heats, with Pairs scoring of 4-3-2-0 applying. The leading team after Heat 15 goes straight to the Final, with second and third racing off for the right to face them, meaning a 17-race schedule in total.

Series points are then awarded based on finishing position: 12-8-6-4-2-0 which are carried into the second round at Ipswich next month.

There is also an element of choice for riders and team managers over gate positions, as although each club will be pre-programmed with gates 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 for each race, their two riders can start from those gates in either order.

Peterborough Director of Operations Dale Allitt said: “We wanted to give the team managers a little more control over the meetings, and speaking as a team manager or former team manager myself, sometimes it can be frustrating that in league matches you only really get one roll of the dice sometimes.

“If someone’s going better off gate 3 or 4, or they prefer an outside line, you’ve got an option with that, and I do think you’ll see a lot of tactics playing out over the meeting, which is something that’s a bit fresh.

“I know most fans want to be team managers when they’re sat at the meeting, so I’m sure it will give them plenty to talk about with who should go off which gate between their own riders!

“I do think it’s important that we come up with new ideas in this sport. People want changes, and that’s what’s happened. We have a lot of top guys in this meeting, and it should be a cracking night.”

BELLE VUE: Max Fricke, Brady Kurtz, Tom Brennan (RS); IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Danny King, Danyon Hume (RS); KING’S LYNN: Josh Pickering, Richard Lawson, Jack Thomas (RS); PETERBOROUGH: Michael Palm Toft, Chris Harris, Max Clegg (RS), SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Adam Ellis, Connor Mountain (RS); WOLVERHAMPTON: Sam Masters, Ryan Douglas, Joe Thompson (RS).

*LIVE STREAMING: https://watch.britishspeedway.co.uk .