New R
edcar number one Jason Garrity began his preparation for the forthcoming season last weekend and has plenty more practice in the pipeline before making his SG Petch Bears debut at the club’s Julie Lewis Memorial Trophy meeting on March 30th.
Garrity, who joined the Teessiders from Sheffield during the winter, will be one of the favourites for the season opener at the Media Prima Arena and hopes a good performance will prove the perfect springboard for a successful campaign.
“I was at Scunthorpe practising last Saturday and I’ve got Redcar’s press and practice day at the end of next week,” said the 23-year old from Manchester.
“I’m also riding in the 50th Anniversary meeting at Berwick (tonight – Saturday) and again for ‘Coventry’ in a challenge match at Peterborough on Sunday.
“So I’ll have definitely got a few laps under my belt before the season starts properly.
“Coventry pulling out so late wrecked a lot of my plans but I’ve moved on and am getting things sorted now.
“I’ve had some very loyal sponsors who have been with me a few years now but others are always welcome.
“I’ve got two bikes fully running and three spares in case I need them.
“I’ve ridden at number one a few times before but staying there is going to be hard.
“Riding at number two at Coventry last year means I got used to going out in heat one and riding against two top riders – that has done me the world of good.
“I’m not really bothered which heat I start in – it’s racing at the end of the day and numbers are numbers – but in heat one there is usually little chance to pass so it’s vitally important to make a good start.
“I now have to prove that I can do it consistently.”
The 2011 British Under-19 and National League Riders Champion, has not given up on a place in the Premiership this year and many fancied the Droylsden-based rider might be snapped up by his local track. But Garrity explained:
“I spoke to Belle Vue but they already had their team in mind but I’m hopeful that someone in the Premiership will pick me up before too long.
“I want to try and get back to race again at Cardiff in the Grand Prix; I’ve done it twice before and it was a lot of fun.
“I did two on the trot, in 2014 and 201, but last year’s British Final didn’t go to plan.
“I’d ridden at Belle Vue a few weeks before and it was dry and I’d been on really low sprockets but when I went there again for the British Final it worked in the first race, which I won, but I was too low geared after that.
“I know where I went wrong and you learn from experience.
“Obviously Danny King won the British Final last year and I’ve ridden alongside him at Coventry so that gives me confidence that I could do it too.
“Danny’s ridden in Poland for a while, on big tracks, and I think that has benefited him.
“Riding at Sheffield for a year and a half has helped me and now, as I’m not riding for Coventry, it would be nice to get more bookings abroad and maybe find a club out there?”
Garrity will link up again in the Redcar pits with former Buxton team-mate Charles Wright, with whom he shared treble success with the Hitmen at the beginning of his career in 2010.
“I’m looking forward to being in the same team as Charles again – we’ve don’t live too far apart and have been mates a long time,” he said.
Jonas B Andersen is expected to fly in from Denmark next Monday with Bears other overseas star Tobias Busch, fresh from a winter’s ice racing, returning from Germany later in the week in time for the club’s open to the public press and practice on Saturday, March 25th, with riders expected on track from noon.
The annual meet the riders talk-in, at the trackside bar, will this year take place the evening before, Friday 25th, with a start time of 7pm.
Article courtesy of Keith McGhie and the Speedway Star
