Peterborough Panthers star on a frustrating season and why a good wife is important!

Worrall opens up on the season so far in our exclusive Class of 2023 column and reveals the influence that three-times world no. 1 Nicki Pedersen had in his all too brief spell at the club.

​Worrall opens up on the season so far in our exclusive Class of 2023 column from Holeshot Media and reveals the influence that three-times world no. 1 Nicki Pedersen had in his all too brief spell at the club.

Worrall said: “I’m a winner and there’s something not quite there. There’s something missing. We are just not gelling. We are just not all firing at the same time.

“I’m enjoying it at Peterborough, but it’s tough when you are not winning and that’s annoying. We have only had one win and I wasn’t even there for that because I was injured!

“Obviously we are missing a number one, and it does get me down because I want to win, whether that’s my own racing or meetings as a whole.

“Coming away from a meeting when you have had a heavy defeat, when you are losing constantly, it does put morale down. If you play every match and you are winning you are happy, but when you are losing it’s the other way round.

“You saw it last year, Peterborough struggled and that sticks until something big happens and shakes the place up.

“We have seen it this week as King’s Lynn made their move and brought in Laguta and it could be interesting to see how we change things.

“It would have been nice if we could have got him and a new guy might be just what we need.

"Having riders like Laguta and Emil Sayfutdinov come to British speedway is good for the sport, a massive big positive.

"Twelve months ago, I’d never have dreamt about having the two top Russians here.

"We’ve been linked with the third best Russian, Vadim Tarasenko, but I don’t know anything about him as he’s not been a world champion or in the GP series so we can only wait and see.

“Emil has been a bit special at Ipswich, and while riders like him and Laguta will make it harder, I’d much rather ride round with Emil than with someone lesser.

"You can learn from them and their whole set-up. That’s what they bring to the sport here.

“While riding against them is tough, it’s also good as they are only going to bring you on even if you just stand there and watch what they do.

"It’s not only how they ride, it’s everything from arriving at the track, the set-up, what they do, there’s a lot to learn.

“I was looking forward to Nicki Pedersen being in our team this season.

"Even though he was only here for one meeting I asked him all kinds of questions and I learnt a lot just from having conversations with him.

"He was open and I was very interested in all the things he’s done in his career.

“He was pretty much telling me it’s not just one man who wins, it’s the whole team and if your team isn’t good you are not going to win. It’s the team, from the guy who washes the bikes, the guys who do your engines, your mechanic in the pits during a meeting, your wife at home.

"They need to be the best.

"We would have won against Leicester on Monday if misfortune hadn’t hit Ben Basso and Ben Cook.

“Basso damaged his left hand when a rock from the track hit him in his first race and I saw that some fans were giving him a bit of stick on Facebook for withdrawing from the meeting.

“But you need a lot of strength, especially in the left hand which is the clutch hand. You only use two fingers to work the clutch, and I can completely understand where he was coming from. We walked round the track before the meeting and I could see a few rocks and he was unlucky that one hit him on his hand.

“I can sympathise with Ben. I had an injury, broken metacarpals, and I had to take three weeks off. You need to be in control of that bike and if you can’t work that clutch lever as you should, you shouldn’t ride, not only for your own safety but everyone else’s. We all know Basso is very good, but he does like a crash!

“Ben Cook did one race and something happened. His bike wouldn’t run properly and he tried everything, but couldn’t find the reason. In the end he took the engine out and is going to have it checked over as he had tried every other option, swapping the carburettor and all the electrical things to try and get it working again.

"When that happens you go into a panic and he ended up on his spare bike. If we had had the Ben of last week [he scored 16 points in the win against King’s Lynn] then we’d have won, I’m sure.”

Panthers don’t race at home again until the end of the month (7.30pm, Monday June 26) when defending Premiership champions Belle Vue are in town but they have a busy period on the road, travelling to Wolverhampton, Belle Vue and Ipswich before then.