ANGRY Michael Palm Toft has hit back at rival Lewis Kerr after their dramatic brawl at Sheffield.
The King’s Lynn star was jumped on by Kerr following a heated exchange in Heat 14 of their Premiership KO Cup clash at Owlerton on Thursday night.
Kerr told BSN yesterday that he had not done anything “dangerous” to cause the fight.
But Palm Toft, 32, disagreed and said: “He looks right as we are coming out of the fourth bend. It’s OK to stop the run, I understand that. I don’t have a problem when somebody shuts the door.
“But when you fling the whole bike, I didn’t have any room for my front wheel, it was on the fence. That I have a problem with. It’s a dangerous situation which didn’t even need to happen.
“Shut the door fair play, that’s racing. But there is a fine line between being completely dirty and just shutting the door.
“We crossed the finishing line and I just spoke my mind, that was dirty.
“Your adrenaline is flowing. We are all racing, we know what we are there to do. I said my piece and I thought that was dealt with.
“Then I was rugby tackled. You have a fight or flight mode there. I’m a fighter at the end of the day. I don’t run from anybody.
“Obviously Lewis’ mechanics got involved as well. We got ripped apart.
“I still had hold of my bike, he hit me from behind, I didn’t know it was going to happen so I didn’t have a chance to react.”
Palm Toft and Kerr spoke after the meeting ended but did not shake hands.
MPT added: “This can always happen. You rub elbows all the time and things happen in the heat of the moment.
“He’s sour about something that happened in 2021. He never actually said actually to my face that he’s sour about anything. So I just think he’s pathetic.
“If he had a problem way back then, why not tell me?
“He asked me to do his testimonial, so I thought there’s nothing there then. I’d heard from others that there was a problem. But he’d not said it to my face so I didn’t believe it.
“I don’t care about the next time we race each other. I’m there to ride my bike. I just want to win. I’m there to do a job, not fight anybody.”
King’s Lynn, who face Wolves at home on Thursday, have come under fire following their sluggish start to the campaign but Palm Toft says they shouldn't be judged so quickly.
He added: “I’ve had nine months out injured. Now I’m feeling great, my normal self on the bike.
“There will always be criticism no matter what sport you do. If your team is not winning, you’ll be criticised.
“At the end of the day we all do our best. Nobody wants to go home and score zero. Most of the riders only have points money. If you don’t score anything, you go home with nothing.
“It’s a tough sport, it’s not like football where you get paid a stupid wage, you don’t even touch the ball and you still get your money.”
Words by Holeshot Media.
Images by Taylor Lanning.