BATCHELOR HONEST IN HIS APPRAISAL FOLLOWING SWINDON DEFEAT

TROY BATCHELOR admitted it was a difficult defeat to take for the Swindon Robins as the Wiltshire club succumbed to a 41-49 home defeat against playoff rivals the Belle Vue Aces last night. TotalSport Swindon’s Ryan Walker spoke to the team number one following the meeting.

In what was called a must-win meeting for both sides, Belle Vue was victorious as Swindon lost ground on their playoff charge. And when asked about the performance of his side, Batchelor said it was a disappointing night for the Robins.

“Eight points was the difference between the teams,” said Batchelor.

“From the races that I watched, Belle Vue made some really good starts and got out in front in a few races.

“Our team is heavy on the too five and a couple of our guys didn’t deliver,” he added.

“The reserves for Belle Vue did a good job and sometimes it’s just a couple of points here and there that are the difference,” he said.

Still sitting in second place of the SGB Premiership table means the Swindon Robins can still qualify for the playoffs. 

However, with teams around them having multiple meetings in hand, and Swindon struggling for form away from home, the Robins will need to rely on others to drop points. Something Batchelor agreed with.

“Obviously we want to be in the playoffs but we’ve got our work cut out now,” said Batchelor.

“It’s really tight between six teams that are looking good.

“We need to start getting the results unless we want to just sit there and watch everyone else,” he said.

“You can sit there and calculate the numbers but you never know what’s going to happen in speedway.

“Not many people expected us to lose at home, we did, and that’s speedway,” he added.

Despite the defeat, Troy Batchelor put in a brilliant performance racing to thirteen points and top-scoring for the Robins. However, when asked about his performance, the Swindon number one spoke about how logistic issues caused him to race without his favoured engine.

“Thirteen points isn’t too bad for me,” said Batchelor.

“I was panicking this morning because my new engine has been delayed,” he stated.

“It left Sweden on Monday and it should have been at my house by Tuesday but it’s still not there.

“They promised it’d be delivered but it’s not and I’ve been on the phone to them every day,” he added.

“I’m without my engine that I normally ride, all my engines are done in Sweden so the logistics of getting it back over here is a nightmare,” said the Australian.

With rider averages causing teams to reshuffle, Troy Batchelor saw himself move to the number one spot in the team with Nick Morris dropping to number five. And Batchelor explained how he doesn’t like riding at the top of the order.

“I don’t enjoy racing at number one,” admitted Batchelor.

“If you look at the format five years ago the number ones would always get gate one or two in heat one.

“I’m number one in my Poland team as well, and that’s how it should be with the number one getting the inside gates,” he said.

“They changed it for some reason and now when you go away from home your gating outside, outside, then inside, inside which isn’t ideal.

“It’s quite tough but it is what it is and you’ve just got to focus on racing,” he added.

When not racing, Batchelor is one of few riders who will publicly voice their opinion on the state of British speedway tracks. And when questioned on this, the 30-year-old gave an honest review of racetracks around the Country.

“It’s a difficult one when it comes to tracks,” stated Batchelor.

“There has been work put in here at Swindon and there are improvements being made.

“But our first corner here is terrible.

“The rest of the track is nearly perfect but there are three or four metres of the track in turn one that’s not good,” he said.

“We wind up all the speed when racing to try and overtake but then everyone has to slow down going into the first bend.

“We can’t use the entire track to race on which is very frustrating.

“I can work with it when I see people trying to improve tracks but when they don’t try then that’s when it angers me,” he added.

“I’m doing my job working hard on my racing and bringing in engines to do my best but other people don’t do what they’re supposed to do.

“I speak for the majority of people because they don’t want to get in trouble for saying anything and I’m not afraid to,” said Batchelor.