SWINDON Robins skipper Jason Doyle has criticised a proportion of young riders for their poor attitude when learning from speedway’s top athletes.

Doyle, 33, will start his fourth campaign with the Robins next month when lining up as heat leader against Belle Vue Aces on Thursday, April 11, in the SGB Premiership.

Following his first world championship win in 2017, Doyle has been keen to pass on his knowledge to some of the sport’s rising stars – and is said to already work well with Bristol-based Robins reserve Zach Wajtknecht.

But the Australian international wishes more youngsters would adopt an approach similar to Wajtknecht, revealing too many promising riders choose not to take onboard valuable advice from the leading riders.

“I’d like to help young riders - but the hardest thing these days is they don’t listen,” said Doyle, who was attending a ‘Flux Fridays’ evening hosted by Adrian Flux.

“I’ve tried to help a few young kids and try to give them advice, but they always know best and they don’t listen - that’s the hardest thing for me.

“If they don’t listen once, then I don’t give them a second chance.

“I’d like to help a few young kids - it doesn’t matter if they’re Australian or English or another nationality - as I’d just like to help a few kids find their way and see them succeed.”

The former Somerset Rebels number one enters this year following a mixed bag of fortune in 2018.

A failed world championship defence saw Doyle finish seventh out of the 15 permanent grand prix riders, however he impressed in England, Sweden and Poland in domestic racing.

Staying injury free will undoubtedly be part of the Norwich-based rider’s plan for the coming months, and he is fortunate to remain mentally strong despite a series of horror spills on the continent in recent years.

He added: “The mental side is the hardest thing to come back from. I feel mentally strong. After so many knocks and crashes it can play a toll on your mental state.

“Like I’ve said a few times before, I think I’ve got a longer list of injuries than achievements.

“But it was all worthwhile when I won the world title. You can forget about the injuries - but I’ve certainly had a few.

“The hardest ones are when you break serious bones. When I broke my neck in Melbourne, I was very lucky, and my family know how hard it was to come back from that.”