Niels Kristian Iversen

Niels-Kristian Iversen
Personal information
Nationality	Denmark
Date of birth	20 June 1982 (1982-06-20) (age 29)
Place of birth	Esbjerg, Denmark
Nickname	PUK
Website	Official website
Current club information
British league	King's Lynn Stars
Polish league	Stal Gorzów
Swedish league	Indianerna
Danish league	Outrup
Career history
Holsted (DK) King's Lynn Stars Newport Wasps Oxford Cheetahs Vastervik (SWE) Indianerna Wroclaw (POL) Rybnik (POL) Peterborough Panthers Falubaz Zielona Góra (POL) Wolverhampton Wolves Esbjerg (DK) Stal Gorzów (POL)	2001,2010 - Present 2001, 2011 2003,2004 2003,2005 2004-2009 2010 - Present 2004 2005 2006 -2007, 2009 - Present 2006 - 2010 2008 2009 2011
Individual honours
Danish Under-21 Champion	2002
Team honours
Craven Shield Winner Swedish Elitserien Champion Danish League Champion Elite League Champion World Cup	2005 2005 2002, 2004 2006 2006,2008

Niels Kristian Trochmann Iversen (born June 20, 1982 in Esbjerg, Denmark) is an international motorcycle speedway rider. He was part of the Danish teams that won the Speedway World Cup in 2006 and 2008.

The Early Days

Niels-Kristian Trochmann was Born 20 June 1982 in Esbjerg, Denmark to Ann Marie & Flemming Iversen. Growing up with older brother Soren a young Niels decided he want to be a speedway rider.

Luckily enough his local town Esbjerg had their own track where Niels began to learn his desired trade. Quickly moving up the ranks in Denmark the first of many titles came in ’94 at the 50cc Danish Individual Championship. Moving up to 80cc in ’97 saw him win his second title at just 15 years old. In ’98 a young PUK moved up to full size bikes as he set his sights on a bigger and better future.

British team Kings Lynn noticed Niels and signed him for the remainder of the 2001 season, although it only last for three meetings it helped his riding skills and at 20 years old Niels earned his first taste of team silverware as well as individual gold, in ’02 he helped Danish team Holsted to the Division One Championship as well as becoming the Danish U21 Champion for the first time.

International Iversen

Niels came back to British shores in 2003 with Newport in the Premier League and was already signed for Holsted in Denmark. For his new British team he topped the averages with 9.13 and 6 maximums attracting Elite League club Oxford, Hostead went on to retain their Division One Title with the help of Niels. New Oxford team manager Nigel Wagstaff added Niels to the team for 4 meetings at the end of the 2003 season, his personal performances gained him entry to the World U21 Final where he finished sixth. He was now getting attention from all over Europe and was selected for the prestigious Speedway World Cup in August ’03. Ten points from five rides helped Denmark through to the Grand Final where he and Kenneth Bjerre were replaced.

Niels was now entering the big time speedway for himself, club & country. Signing for Swedish club Vastervik in the Elitserien and Wroclaw in Poland gave Niels a full time international career. Nigel Wagstaff’s Oxford came knocking at Niels door for the ’04 season as a full time Elite League rider, he made the switch to the Cowley based side and returned the faith put in him with a 6.57 point average over 32 meetings for the ‘Silver Machine’. In his home land of Denmark he was taking the speedway world by surprise and helped Holsted to a third Division One title in as many years.

Once again he was selected for the Speedway World cup where he went one better than his score in the previous year, 11 points including wins over Leigh Adams & Adam Shields. Danish Grand Prix organizers selected Niels as the Wildcard in Copenhagen on 26 June, taking his chance he reached the semi finals in his first Grand Prix and ended the meeting on 13 points.

2005 saw Niels move to Rybnik in the Polish league and win the Elitserien with Swedish Club Vastervik as well as being selected for Denmark’s World Cup team where once again he hit double figures in the qualification round. The final was won by Poland but Niels had earned himself a Bronze Medal for the third time. In Britain, Oxford retained his services for the season but poor performances from the whole team lead them to finish just one point above Arena Essex, however 05′ gave him success in the Craven Shield and another title to add to his fast growing collection.

Grand Prix Call

Niels moved to his third Polish club in as many years, Extraliga team Zielona Gora signed him from Rybnik while in Britain Peterborough gave Niels an opportunity to further his career, the 2006 season would be his best yet. Grand Prix officials had nominated Niels for a full spot in the GP series, the highlight came in his home GP at Copenhagen scoring 8 points. The series finished with Niels on 51 points and outside the qualification places in 13th.

World Cup Gold

Coming into the Panthers team with a 8.28 average put a lot of expectation on the shoulders of Niels, despite dropping his average by 0.08 he impressed and helped Peterborough to their first league win since ’99. His performances for the Panthers got him selected for Denmark’s World Cup team, the Danes got through to the final via the race off where Niels scored 7 points and played a big part in getting the team into the final, Denmark went on to win the final ahead of Sweden giving Niels his first Gold Medal in just four attempts.

Niels along with fellow Danes Hans Andersen & Kenneth Bjerre got the Panthers to the playoff’s in 2007 but we knocked out by Swindon. For the fifth season in a row Niels was selected for his country and was part of the Danish team that finished a gallant second to Poland in the World Cup Final at Leszno on 21 July. His Danish team Holsted enjoyed success in the Superleague Championship. PUK’s Vastervik side made it though to the Elitserien playoff finals but were knocked out in the latter stages. Niels personal highlight came in the 2007 Grand Prix challenge where he won the meeting at Vojens resulting in being a full time member for the second time in the Grand Prix series.

Despite being a full GP rider Peterborough decided not to use Niels in 2008 and rival Elite League Club Wolverhampton signed him on loan, during his time for the Wolves he raised his average from 7.64 up to 9.04 but the team failed to climb the table and finished at the bottom. Swedish Club Vastervik failed to qualify for the Playoffs and Holsted failed to win the Superleague.

Second Gold Medal

Niels first taste of Grand Prix racing was a learning curve, crashing in the Swedish Grand Prix gave him a broken shoulder but Niels carried on and finished out side the automatic qualification places in a respectable 12th place. Selected for the World cup again, Neils and the Danish team pulled out a victory in the 2008 final and giving him his second Gold Medal.

Present day

Brought back to Peterborough in 2009, Niels became the Captain of the Panthers and based himself in the city. Although his average dropped, he was a crucial part of the team that finished mid table. In his home land he signed for local club Esbjerg but could only manage 6th place overall while in Poland Niels stayed with Zielona Gora who went on to win the Extraliga title and Niels his first Polish team win.

In 2010 Niels will spend his fourth season with Peterborough in the British Elite League as well as staying with Zielona Góra in the Polish Extraliga. In his home country of Denmark, Niels moved back to Holsted after a year away from the club while in Sweden he moved from Vastervik to Indianerna.

On 31 August, Niels was selected for a wildcard place at the Nordic Grand Prix on 11 September.

In 2011 Niels left Peterborough and joined the King's Lynn Stars who made their move up to the Elite League. He wears the number 5 race jacket.

References

Wiki Entry maintained by Speedway365

External links

• Official website

Persondata
Name	Iversen, Niels Kristian
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	20 June 1982
Place of birth	Esbjerg, Denmark
Date of death
Place of death