THIS week I did something a little bit different as I had my first grasstrack race of the year.

Riding on grass is always something I am keen to do, as that is how I started racing, even though I haven’t been able to do it as often as I would like.

I think the last time I raced on grass before the weekend was over eight months ago.

I managed to win one of the European Championship semi-finals. One was in Swingfield (Kent), which is where I raced, the other is in Germany and then the final is in France.

I was put into that meeting so it was good to be able to get back on it again and get the win.

It’s not a great deal different to speedway, it is just a little more rough because you’re not racing on a prepared track like in speedway, and obviously you’re on a different bike as well.

To be honest, I think racing on grass has helped me a lot when we are racing on a speedway track that isn’t very smooth because it helps to know I can race on a rough surface as well as a smooth one.

On Monday, the Robins snatched an away win against the Leicester Lions, which was my sixth meeting in six days, so I was glad of the rest afterwards.

It was busy but it is good to be riding so often. We all know there have been a lot of rain-offs this season already and we don’t want to have any more.

I think there will be a couple more occasions where I have a busy week or so like that, I know I have got another one next week.

The win over Leicester on Monday was great and it was great there last year too when we were on the television.

I seem to struggle when I race there. I don’t know why, it’s just a track that I don’t really get on with. However, I did manage to find something in the end and get a few points on the board for the team.

I felt like I could have got more. There was something wrong with the bike that I should have picked up on before and explained why I was finding it a bit difficult out there.

Troy Batchelor competed in that meeting with an eye infection, which showed his commitment to the cause and it is great to have a rider like him around.

I didn’t know him well enough to speak to him before the season but now I do and he’s great because he’s been there and done it. It’s a good thing to have a rider like with you.