BEN BARKER wants to be British champion after becoming the first Plymouth rider for the 2024 campaign.
The battling Cornishman will return to the Gladiators for a third successive season.
Barker, 35, is known as the King of the Coliseum after breaking the track record and admits he now wants glory for the club.
He said: “Plymouth is where I want to be, so I am delighted to get fixed up and glad to be back for 2024.
“I was pleased with how I rode in 2023, but also very disappointed. My season ended with injury and I was disappointed in that.
“I was also disappointed that the Plymouth team was really, really good on paper but it just didn’t develop and we couldn’t achieve anything together, really. I don’t know why, maybe a clash of personalities.
“Hopefully, this going forward, we can have a great team spirit and you can win meetings alone with a great team spirit and all the boys digging in helping one another.”
There is never a dull moment with Barker about. While his scoring can be up and down, he delivered another impressive result with third in the British Championship.
Now he’s keen to set a new track record at Plymouth with the track undergoing substantial changes.
He added: “It’s going to be exciting, isn’t it? I mean, I loved the Coliseum as it was but everything changes and hopefully the changes will be for the better. I have been fortunate enough to get the track record and it is nice to keep it that way!
“That record will stand now, but it will be a new track, so I want a new track record and that is one of my aims for 2024 – get the track record at Plymouth, get to No.1 and become British champion.”
Team manager Garry May was also delighted to have Barker as one of his heat leaders for next season.
He added: “He just gets on with it, he is 100 per-cent wherever he goes and it was a no-brainer to have Ben back.
“He knows the track, he loves the people and the people love him and he will get points at this level wherever he goes. It was just a no-brainer.
“He had a good year and rode well until he got injured in that meeting which finished his season off with a broken collarbone. But we see Ben as being our second heat leader.”
Words by Holeshot Media.
Images by Taylor Lanning.