LAST RACE hero Troy Batchelor admitted he knew little about Swindon Robins’ standing against Leicester Lions ahead of heat 15 as he nursed a nasty eye infection.

The Australian first encountered a problem with his eye three hours before Swindon were due to face Leicester in their latest SGB Premiership encounter at Beaumont Park.

Despite struggling to see what was ahead of him, Batchelor teamed up with Pole Tobiasz Musielak to secure the Robins a shock 5-1 in the final race – earning Alun Rossiter’s men an unlikely 46-44 victory.

Batchelor now has a matter of hours to recover before he’s due back on a bike tomorrow before teaming up with the Robins next at King’s Lynn next Wednesday.

He said: “I’ve been suffering the last few days. I thought it was hay fever.

“When we were halfway to Leicester it felt like I had a rock in my eye.

“I was sick before the meeting. It was about 4pm when I realised something was up.

“Had it been that bad when I was in Poland I probably wouldn’t have raced.”

Despite the problem, the former Australian champion dropped just one point from his six rides on the night and his points tally could have been more had it not been for some confusion regarding the tactical substitute rule ahead of heat five.

However his best ride was saved for last as he shepherded Musielak around the Beaumont Park track to wrap up a huge 5-1 for the Robins and earn the visiting side another away win, not that Batchelor knew that at the time.

He said: “I thought we wasn’t doing too bad but I was too busy doing my own stuff.

“At heat 15 I didn’t know we needed a 5-1 to win the meeting.

“Rosco was trying to explain to me but I said ‘let me just win the race’.

“It’s good to come back from 10 points down and win the meeting.

“I was washing my eyes between races. There was a lot of pus, but I had to keep pushing.”

Swindon are next in action at King’s Lynn a week today.