RYAN DOUGLAS has vowed to let his riding “do the talking” ahead of the Championship League Riders’ Championship.
The flying Australian starts as one of the favourite for today’s prestigious event at Redcar, live on BSN.
Dougie, 29, is slowly but surely becoming a major international star but he knows he needs a big win to make people really rate him on the big stage.
He said: “I think I need to have a statement win. I think I’ve flown under the radar.
“I’ve been here a few years. When I first arrived I didn’t set the world alight. I’ve just consistently got better.
“I still am under the radar. I don’t mind that really. If you keep scoring, people will eventually notice.
“At Poole last year that was a shame. I thought I had it won really.
“There wasn’t much racing and I got across Sam (Masters) out of the start in the final.
“But Sam and Lewis (Kerr) had a tangle which put them into me and I ended up in a massive crash. It was unfortunate because I thought I could win it.
“I was obviously happy for Sam because he was the best rider in the league.
“Redcar is probably one of my favourite tracks. If I’ve got a chance of winning it, being at Redcar isn’t going to do me any harm.
“It’s going to be a tough meeting. Obviously Charles (Wright) is a home track rider and everyone enjoys riding there. If I can win it, that would be great.”
The ultimate goal would be a place in the Grand Prix and what a story that would be to follow his mentor Ward onto the biggest stage of all.
He said:“It would be an amazing thing. Just thinking about it is pretty cool.
“I still think I’ve got a long way to go. I’m not getting ahead of myself.
“In Poland I’ve done a few seasons now, I’m moving up the ranks there and I’m in the top four of the second division averages, that’s a good step up. My next aim is to get in the Ekstraliga and Grand Prix.
“I’m not going to say this or that. I’ll let my riding do the talking and prove a few people wrong.”
Draw: 1 Rory Schlein (Berwick), 2 Justin Sedgmen (Birmingham), 3 Troy Batchelor (Birmingham), 4 Kye Thomson (Edinburgh), 5 Richard Lawson (Poole), 6 Richie Worrall (Plymouth), 7 Paco Castagna (Edinburgh), 8 Lewis Kerr (Oxford), 9 Charles Wright (Redcar), 10 Ryan Douglas (Scunthorpe), 11 Craig Cook (Edinburgh), 12 Ben Cook (Poole), 13 Chris Harris (Glasgow), 14 Jake Allen (Scunthorpe), 15 Danny King (Redcar), 16 Leon Flint (Berwick).
Words: Holeshot Media.
Images by Taylor Lanning.