BRITISH speedway bosses have yet to announce the details of the race format for the upcoming season but Robins skipper Troy Batchelor has insisted there was no reason to tamper with the tried and tested formula currently in place.

The inclusion of two National League riders in the reserve positions of each team in the Elite League is set to bring change to the sport, with the young Brits set to be protected from racing against the world class heat leaders riding in this country.

Batchelor is one such rider who will now not face a reserve in his opening ride, as he has for the last two seasons while riding at number five for the Robins, but while the Australian is keen to help young reserves Darryl Ritchings and Steve Worrall he is not overly excited by prospect of changes.

“I have seen what’s been said but I’m not really liking that to be honest,” he said.

“I don’t make the rules so I have to get on with it, but if I did there wouldn’t be any National League riders in the Elite League either. We’ll have to see what happens.

“There’s always two sides to it so if you look at the National League riders they don’t have to face any heat leaders which is good for them, but it’s Elite League not National League.”

The changes are set to make the night harder for the likes of Batchelor and the rest of the league’s heat leaders, but the 26-year-old insisted his job was tough enough already.

“When you’re number one or five, like I have been for a few years, you always get tough races in heat 13 and 15 and the only half easy race is your first one when you’re number five because there is a reserve in it,” he said. “If you’re number five you then get the three and four so it’s pretty tough as it is so we’ll have to see what happens.

“There was nothing wrong with the race format how it was to be honest but every year something seems to change. Things haven’t been going too well for speedway in the last few years so I hope this turns it around but I can’t say what will happen.”