SWINDON Robins rider Troy Batchelor is thrilled to be back in the UK and ready for his one and only meeting in the country this year, writes NIGEL PEARSON.

Swindon favourite Batchelor spent the summer in Poland waiting for opportunities in the Polish League – but the 33-year-old spent time on the sidelines frustrated.

Now, Batchelor will take his place at Belle Vue’s National Speedway Stadium tonight alongside Robins colleague Jason Doyle in the Peter Craven Memorial Trophy meeting.

He said: “It’s going to be great to be racing on British soil again.

“I’ve missed it a lot so as you may be able to tell I’m looking forward to it!

“Hopefully plenty of fans tune in on the live stream and we can put on a worthy show for them all.

“I’ve missed Swindon and I’ve missed a busy schedule this year, it’s all been very strange and I’m keeping my fingers crossed we get back to something like a normal calendar of racing next year.”

Tonight’s meeting, which starts at 7.30, sees Abbey hero Doyle chasing a third successive Craven title in Manchester.

It will be staged behind closed doors but can be watched via a live stream and passes are available from sportcentral.tv who are the new British Speedway stream specialists.

Also in the meeting is three-time World Champion Jason Crump, British Champion Rory Schlein and Wolverhampton’s Sam Masters makes his one and only UK appearance of the year in an impressive field assembled by Aces boss Mark Lemon.