JASON Doyle admits this weekend’s Speedway Grand Prix finale in Australia is going to be a tough watch as he begins his long road to recovery in time for the 2017 season.

While American Greg Hancock is closing in on a fourth world crown at the season-ending round in Melbourne on Saturday, for the 31 year old Swindon Robins skipper there will only be thoughts of what might have been as his broken body repairs following his heavy crash in the Torun Grand Prix in Poland earlier this month.

Doyle, who had won the preceding three rounds to head the championship standings before the incident, suffered three breaks in his elbow as well as a dislocated shoulder and collapsed lung.

He now has pins in his elbow after having an operation and was expected to be driven to Barcelona from Poland tomorrow for an operation on his shoulder, rather than being in his homeland to have a crack at his first global crown.

“It’s the hardest pill to swallow, knowing that I was five points clear going into the Torun Grand Prix,’’ he told the Swindon Advertiser.

“Even if I only scored 10 points that night it would have gone to a decider in Melbourne “The hardest thing to do now is to watch Melbourne and realise I could have had a medal - I could still get bronze if things don’t go well for a few riders.

“This is speedway and I just need to get ready for 2017 and do well again for another year, if I look back on everything which has happened this year, I think it has been a good year.

“The hardest thing is having another winter where I am injured. When I broke my neck last season, it was a hard way to finish a good season again.

“The same thing has happened, it’s like I’ve ran over a black cat in October because this is the third year in the last five now.’’ While the crash robbed Doyle of the chance to be king of the world, his four series victories in 2016 have at least proved to him that he has what it takes to reach the top step in the future.

“Now I know I have the capabilities of becoming world champion, no one backed me until this year,’’ he added.

“I had a lot of followers, a lot of people jumped on the bandwagon at the wrong time. I think I am just going to ride my motorbike like I have for many years before this.

“I didn’t enjoy the Grand Prix with the pressure, but the year before I enjoyed all of them, I need to just enjoy it again.”

First up though is his recovery, with Doyle underlining just how serious his injuries from the Torun crash were.

“Tuesday (October 11) was the start of two operations, my right elbow has got pins in it now because I broke it in three places on the joint,” added the Australian rider.

“That got sorted in Torun, I was laying up in hospital for two weeks before I had the operation because of my lung.

“I couldn’t have any operation because of the pressure on my lung, the left lung had collapsed and the right lung was very badly bruised.

“I’ve been advised by the doctors that I can’t fly for three months, so this is the hardest thing to be honest because I have to go to Barcelona on Friday to have a shoulder operation to fix the badly dislocated shoulder “We are going to the best surgeon in Europe, but it is going to be a difficult task to drive for 20 hours from Poland. But we have to do this to be 100 per cent fit.”

Despite this being his second big crash in the last two seasons, the Robins skipper has never considered quitting the sport and is only focussed on getting back in the saddle.

“The timescale for getting back on the bike is the start of January, it’s going to be a long road but I’ve done it before so it isn’t something I’m scared of,’’ he added.

“I know it’s going to be a lot of hard work but I am looking forward to pushing myself, getting back on a bike.

“I’m definitely going to be ready for the start of the season it’s good time if there is ever a good time to crash it’s in October.

“Quitting isn’t an option, never, you retire when you are ready not because of a little set back this crash in Torun wasn’t may fault.

“This is never going to be in my thoughts, I just need to get back on a bike.

n You can still vote for Jason Doyle to be Speedway Grand Prix Rider of the Year by visiting Twitter page @SpeedwayGP and like their Jason Doyle tweet.