PETERBOROUGH are building up to the first instalment of a massive Lakeside trilogy this weekend - as the hunt for major trophies continues.
The two sides meet home and away on a super Sunday (Sept 23) in the KO Cup quarter-finals, with Panther staging the second leg at 7pm; then the following weekend in the semi-finals of the Championship Shield; and finally on the weekend of October 6/7 in the semis of the Championship play-offs.
And promoter Ged Rathbone says the business end of the season promises to provide some spectacular racing between teams who will become more and more familiar with each other.
He said: “When you’re coming towards the end of competitions, it’s inevitable that the better teams will race against each other more often.
“Meeting Lakeside on four successive weekends, including our win there last week, is unusual, but it’s the way the fixtures and the competition draws have fallen, along with us choosing to face them in the play-offs.
“People might talk about lack of variety but for me these will be two strong sides hell-bent on gaining the results which could go a long way towards ending the other’s season, and I think there will be some real drama along the way.
“There will inevitably be some individual rivalries which will develop over the course of the next few weeks, and our message to the supporters is that we’re treating each and every competition with the utmost importance, and we expect them all to be must-see encounters.
“We still have the chance to complete a quadruple this season, including the Fours, and there can’t have been many years in the past when there are still three teams in contention for the Treble of full team competitions at this stage (Panthers, Lakeside and Workington).
“We have the KO Cup first on Sunday, which is an item of silverware we’re very keen to defend, and if we can get through against Lakeside then we would face Scunthorpe in the semi-finals, which would be two more meetings I’m sure our riders would very much look forward to.
“The message to the supporters is to come along, enjoy it and bring your Panthers colours and anything you’ve got to make a lot of noise for our boys. They deserve a real cauldron of support after what they’ve done this season.
“All of these competitions are important to us and after topping the league table we have the chance to make it an even more special season.”
Panthers are finalising their team plans for the coming weeks whilst being mindful of the regulations over guest riders.
There are no restrictions on the replacement for the injured Scott Nicholls in home matches, except in the play-off semi-final where the guest cannot come from another club still in the league competition (ie. Glasgow or Workington).
But in the case of away matches at Rye House, and for the replacement of reserve Tom Bacon, guest bookings are subject to the 8-day rule where a rider can appear as a guest once in that period on a particular track.