PETERBOROUGH Speedway are set to welcome Nicki Pedersen back to the Showground for their season opener on Monday March 19.

PETERBOROUGH Speedway are set to welcome Nicki Pedersen back to the Showground for their season opener on Monday March 19.

The Panthers will be lining-up against a team led by club legend Ryan Sullivan and Pedersen has confirmed he will be ready to face his former club.

The hard-riding Dane captained the Panthers for much of the 2011 season before losing his place in the side last September to help make way for the return of the popular Hans Andersen - but despite that disappointment, he is eager to return for the meeting as he steps up his preparation for next month’s Grand Prix opener in New Zealand.

The three-times World Champion is the latest big name to be added to the ‘Sullivan’s Seven’ team alongside Sullivan himself and Greg Hancock.

All nine of this season’s squad will be in action with Rene Bach and Kyle Newman also confirmed starters in Sullivan’s team, and their doubling-up partners Lasse Bjerre and Richard Lawson will represent the hosts.

Pedersen said: “I’ve chosen to do as many meetings as possible in the UK before the first GP, so I can test my equipment and myself as much possible and to see where we are in terms of being ready before we go to New Zealand.

“It’s important to be as race fit as I can be as early as possible, because it’s a unique situation with a GP being held so early in the year, and therefore I need to get behind the tapes as much as I can before March 31.

“It’s also good to get back to Peterborough because it’s a big and fast track, in order to get the physical sensation and technique of racing a fast track into your body, in preparation for the big 415m Western Springs track in New Zealand.”