PLYMOUTH boss Mark Phillips believes that Nicolai Klindt can be the best rider in the Cab Direct Championship.
The Gladiators pulled off one of the biggest winter signings of the second tier by snapping up the Danish international.
He returns to the Cab Direct Championship for the first time since winning the title with Workington in 2018, and the Gladiators believe he is a rider of exactly the calibre they have been chasing.
It’s yet another glamour name for the Devon club, just four years after they managed to field Jason Crump and Bjarne Pedersen as their top two.
Promoter Phillips said: “The opportunity to acquire a genuine No.1 rider who can take on and beat any rider in the league on any track is an option that we have sought since we returned to this level in 2021, but have been thwarted in finding due to circumstances beyond our control.
“When I look at the comparative averages of those riders doubling up in the Championship this season, only Richard Lawson and Sam Masters have higher PL (Premiership) averages, and I also feel that Nicolai has more scope to improve on his current PL average once fully race fit and dialled in.
“Both Garry (May) and myself are delighted with his signing and I am sure that all of our very loyal and wonderful supporters will cheer this signing to the rafters.
“I think that Nicolai can be the best rider in the 2025 Championship bar none!”
Klindt admits that he had ruled out a return until he was given the Gladiators fixture list.
He told Speedway Star: “About two months I got a phone call from someone who suggested that Plymouth might be interested but I knocked it on the head because, even though I didn’t have any Polish commitments, that’s still the plan.
“I was contacted by a couple of other clubs who I said ‘no’ to without talking finances or anything, because I didn’t see myself riding in the Championship. But then Garry May contacted me. I was still unsure but he sent over their potential fixtures and I do have to look at it like I don’t have anything in Poland.
“The good thing with Plymouth is the Championship doesn’t start until the middle of April, so that gives me a lot of room every weekend before then. I can go out to do my pre-season testing and practices and so on in Poland to present myself out there.
“I looked through the fixtures and they’re also slotted in very well alongside my Premiership commitments with King’s Lynn, so I told Mark Phillips what he, or the club, needed to do for me to make it happen logistically, which he agreed to, and so, to be honest, it was pretty easy.”
Words by Holeshot Media.
Images by Taylor Lanning.