ROBINS skipper Troy Batchelor will discover today whether or not he requires surgery to repair the torn knee ligaments he suffered riding in the Australian Championship.

The 26-year-old tore the medial ligament in his left knee during the final of the second round of his national championship on Wednesday, forcing him to pull out of the third round at Gillman on Saturday, with the Aussie now fighting to be fit for the start of the European season in mid-March.

Batchelor has seen a physio as well as a doctor, who performed an MRI scan on his knee which confirmed the tear, but he has now been referred to see a specialist today where it will be decided whether or not surgery is necessary.

Regardless of whether he needs to go under the knife or not, the Robins skipper is convinced he will be ready to go when the tapes go up on the new season.

“If I was a normal person I wouldn’t have an operation and there would be no problems with a six-week recovery time, but doing what I do makes it a bit difference like when we do collarbones and have them pinned,” he said.

“I will see what the specialist says and see if I have to have an operation or not, although sometimes an operation doesn’t always mean a quicker recovery time.

“Whatever happens I will be ready for the season so nobody needs to panic. I rode in practice on Saturday so I’m sure I will be fine.”

Batchelor stayed at Gillman to watch the final round of the series as Chris Holder triumphed over Robins asset Jason Doyle and was disappointed to relinquish his title without being able to turn a wheel in anger.

“It would have been a good meeting to be involved in and I obviously stayed to watch so it was pretty exciting,” he said.

“It came down to the last race between Doyley and Holder and Doyley threw it away so he has to be pretty unhappy because he rode really well during the series.

“It was frustrating for me to lose my title like that but it’s just one meeting and I have a long season ahead of me now. It’s better to look after your knee and make sure it’s the best it can be for your career.”

Batchelor also revealed he has already spoken to Motorcycling Australia about the possibility of being handed a wild card for the Grand Prix qualifying campaign, after his injury prevented him from taking one of the three places on offer through his national championship.

“I’ve already had a word with them and let them know I want one and if they could sort something out for me it would be much appreciated,” he said.

“It would be annoying for me to miss out on one because I’ve come home and raced which is pretty much the point of coming home. I was in the top three when the injury happened which would have been enough for me but it’s really disappointing to miss out in this way because it makes coming home pretty pointless.

“If you don’t qualify for the qualifiers this year then you are looking at not being in the GP series until 2016 at the earliest and I would have gone from 25 to 28. It takes too long and that’s not what I want.

“Being first reserve for the GP is good though because things can happen through that way too.”