PETERBOROUGH favourite Ulrich Ostergaard is keen to make the very best of his time as a high-scoring reserve in the early weeks of the campaign.
Ostergaard was excellent for the Crendon Panthers in Monday’s openers against title favourites Belle Vue, with an 11+2 haul in Manchester helping his side go close to a shock away victory.
In the end they had to settle for a 45-45 draw – still worth two league points – before being overturned at home in the evening.
But Ostergaard feels there are plenty of reasons for Panthers to be positive, and is looking to play a big part in the challenge ahead.
He said: “I know ’19 wasn’t the best year for the club and then we all had a year off, so some people are probably coping better with having a year off than others.
“I just want to try and hit it as hard as I can, get a good run going and score plenty of points.
“Hopefully I can be a real threat for Peterborough at reserve, and I can take the advantage of being there.
“I’ve got plenty of experience, and hopefully it will keep working and I’ll keep scoring points for the Panthers.”
Ostergaard’s total of 17 points across the two meetings could in fact have been higher – as he was on the receiving end of a 5-1 in Heat 2 at Belle Vue due to a bike issue.
And then back at home he suffered the unbelievable misfortune of two punctures which cost him places on both occasions, including a win in Heat 14.
He said: “It was the spark plug cap at Belle Vue, so every time I got a bit of dirt on the spark plug it just died.
“It did that four times through that race, but I changed the spark plug cap and the bike was a lot better after that.”
Ostergaard returns to Panthers duty back at the East of England Arena in Monday’s A47 derby with local rivals King’s Lynn.
The Stars have endured a miserable start to the season and axed No.1 Craig Cook after a recent home humiliation by Wolverhampton, with Richard Lawson set to make his debut tonight (Thursday) at Ipswich.