ROBINS rider Dakota North is backing home-track advantage to hand a major boost to his side’s chances of beating Coventry Bees to the Elite League Grand Final.

Swindon suffered a 49-41 defeat in the opening leg of their play-off semi-final in the Midlands on Monday night and will have to do things the hard way to set up a championship showdown with the King’s Lynn Stars or Poole Pirates.

But North reckons that the Robins can take plenty of inspiration from their dominant 60-31 home victory over the Bees during the regular season last month.

The Swindon number four doesn’t see any reason why he and his teammates can’t overturn an eight-point deficit in the second leg at the Abbey Stadium next Monday.

“It’s our track now and we beat them by 30 points last time so if we can do half that, we’ll be alright,” said North.

“I don’t think they’re too tough away so we should be okay. But it’s speedway, so you never know what’s going to happen.

“They’ve got a couple of good boys that have just come on form, who weren’t on-form, but we’re not worried because it’s our track now – we’ll show them how to ride our track.”

Swindon riders suffered more than their fair share of crashes on a heavy Brandon track on Monday, North crashing out of heat 14 after being struck by teammate Steve Worrall.

But the Australian admitted that he was disappointed with his own contribution as the Robins were beaten.

North said: “Eight points isn’t a lot, it’s a couple of races. But (on a) personal note, I didn’t have a good night.

“I didn’t get on with the track too well and luckily a few of the other boys did okay. If you said we’d come away eight points down before the meeting, I’d take that.

“I’m not a big fan of (Brandon). We were there earlier in the year and they were similar conditions and we got flogged, so I think they tried to re-enact that a little bit.

“If you were watching, it wasn’t the greatest racing – you had to be right on the fence in the dirt – but eight points is not a lot so I’m kind of relieved at that.

“(Heat 14) was throwing away points but it’s racing and it was an accident, so I’m not too worried.

“I had to get on my second bike for the last race, which I hadn’t ridden all night. They’re not all the same, so that’s not ideal.”