BACK, rejuvenated, after his first proper winter break in years, Leigh Adams is looking forward to the new campaign.
He said: “It’s a bit of a weird feeling having had the winter off. I did the £60,000 winner-takes-all meeting down at Poole and I really didn’t know what to expect.
"I went there pretty open minded, but it all worked out OK and I was pretty happy with fourth place. I feel OK, I feel good in fact, and the rest has obviously done me the world of good. I feel refreshed, both mentally and physically.
“I’m very excited about the year ahead; it will be nice to have a few young Australians in the team around me. I think it’s pretty cool and it’s going to be exciting, because they’re all up for it. We’ve got a lot of young kids, who just want to get out there and race speedway bikes and that’s not a bad thing.
"Hopefully, I can help them out a bit and throw some ideas their way by using my experience, both on and off track. All being well, they’ll learn a little bit and we can improve as a unit, and continue to build it up during the year.”
Adams will also be competing on the Grand Prix scene again this year, of course, with Swindon fans hoping he can go one better, and complete his dream of being crowned World Champion.
He said: “We’re [the LAR team] really well prepared; I haven’t changed too much from last year and the back-up team is pretty much the same. The structure is all good, it worked really well last year and now we need to go to the first Grand Prix and crank it on.
"The first couple of rounds in Slovenia and Poland are ultra-important. I’ve got my goals this year, and one of them is to be World Champion.
“Here at Swindon, I think it’s really hard to gauge where we’ll finish as a team. All these people are picking out favourites, but when you look at it they’ve all got weak links.
"I think, at the end of the day, it will be about who can get the most out of all their riders. And we have a lot of guys, take Seb Alden for example, who are on low averages, who can do so much more. I think we can come good, definitely,” he added.
INTERVIEW BY CHRIS SEAWARD
EXTRA REPORTING BY RICHARD CROWLEY
