CYCLE SPEEDWAY: BRITISH Champion Myke Grimes will be hoping to overcome the ‘worst possible’ draw on Saturday as he makes his first appearance at the World Cycle Speedway Championship Final.
Grimes, who won the national title in August, has been drawn as No.9 – notoriously the hardest of the 16 draw numbers as it features two grid four positions and a pair of ‘race one, miss one’ heats.
It means the Wyken-based racer will have to be on top of his game in Adelaide, Australia, as he takes on the top 15 riders in the world to win the World Championship.
Since arriving down under earlier this month, Grimes has led the way for Team GB against Australia in the traditional ‘Ashes’ series while also top scoring in his semi-final qualifier.
But competing in seven meetings in just ten days has pushed Grimes to his cycle speedway limit.
After feeling burnt out, the Caludon Castle School IT worker used cryotherapy – used to treat tissue damage in extremely low temperatures – to help recover for his final five rides.
Ahead of the World Championship event, Grimes told the Observer he’s confident he’ll be in top shape for the biggest meeting of his life.
“It’s been an incredible tour,” said Grimes.
“I’ve been feeling pretty burnt out after racing seven times in ten days so I tried cryotherapy followed by a brutal massage.
“Now it’s just a case of resting and relaxing until the final on Saturday evening.
“I’m confident I’ll be in top shape for it so I’m just going to go for it as hard as I can.”
Racing down under for the first time has presented its challenges as well.
But with typically ‘British weather’ approaching Adelaide in time for the weekend, all of Grimes’ hard work could pay off in cooler conditions.
He said: “My draw is the worst of the lot.
“World titles have been won from there before though, if Lady Luck is shining down on me who knows what can happen.
“Qualifying definitely went to plan.
“It’s a little different to a final as you just need to do what you need to do to get the points to make the next stage.
“The semi final line up was formidable but I had a decent draw and managed to finish either top or second in all my rounds.”