BATCHELOR FILLING THE VOID

TROY BATCHELOR has taken no time at all to settle into the race jacket vacated by Jason Doyle over the winter period. TotalSport Swindon’s Ryan Walker gives his analysis on how the Australian has re-established himself as one of the fan favourites at the Abbey Stadium.

After a surprise winter decision by Swindon manager Alun Rossiter to axe newly crowned World Champion Jason Doyle from the 2017 title winning side, many fans were intrigued as to who would replace the team’s number one for the upcoming season.

Batchelor was chosen to fill the void, returning for what is his third stint at the club, and with the Robins having lost just one of their opening four meetings in this league calendar, his arrival could prove to be one of the best signings of the season.

After off-track issues at the King’s Lynn Stars last year caused Batchelor to miss out on the second half of the British speedway season, the 30-year-old had much soul searching to do as he joined the Robins hoping to re-establish himself as one of the leagues best riders.

And now over a month into the premiership season having become the top point scorer in the Robins side, Troy Batchelor is certainly proving his doubters wrong. 

Whilst many might have expected newly appointed Captain Nick Morris to fill the gap left by Doyle in the side, the performances from Batchelor have seen the Queensland born rider become the teams biggest threat by becoming a consistent big point scorer.

This has also helped take the pressure off his skipper and instead allowed Morris to focus on familiarising himself with his new role within the squad which can only be a positive.

Earning himself a ‘bad boy’ reputation in British speedway, Troy Batchelor has at times struggled in recent seasons both on and off the track with the general consensus amongst fans being that Batchelor didn’t seem interested in giving his all for his side.

However this year it’s clear to see that he has found his love for the sport once again and appears to be enjoying racing in Swindon colours now more than ever.

This year marks three years since Batchelor missed the cut and was axed from the grand prix series, ending his two-year stint in the completion, and many would say that his career is starting to reach it’s latter stages. But don’t be fooled because the form he is in means this could just be the best year of his career so far as Troy Batchelor looks like a man on a mission.