TROY Batchelor was unable to retain his Elite League Riders Championship on Saturday night, finishing fourth in the final as Jason Doyle claimed victory.

Swindon Robins skipper Batchelor headed to Leicester with relatively low expectations of repeating his 2014 success at King’s Lynn after a difficult winter blighted by visa problems, but rode superbly in the latter stages to progress to the final.

Sadly that proved a race too far for Batchelor as fellow Australian Doyle claimed the spoils ahead of runner-up Niels Iversen and Maciej Janowski in third.

Robins teammate Nick Morris had an unspectacular night and failed to progress beyond the heats.

Batchelor did not get off to the greatest of starts and was only third in his opening heat, and things were even worse for Morris as he was excluded from his opening race after jumping the tape twice. He then failed to register a point in his next heat.

Batchelor managed to get into his groove with victory in his second outing and followed it up with a second place in his third ride, while Morris got on the board at the third time of asking with a third-place finish.

The result seemed to kick-start things for Morris as he claimed victory in his fourth heat, with the Australian awarded the win after Josh Auty fell. Batchelor suffered a nightmare run when he next took to the track and a no-points finish looked to have scuppered his chances of making the semi-finals.

But Batchelor is made of stern stuff and nailed the only result that would have seen him qualify for the semis in his final race, romping to a storming heat win to finish with nine points. Morris was third in the same heat and finished with a respectable seven points.

Janowski topped the points totals after the heats, with four wins from five races helping him to a total of 13. Iversen joined him in automatically qualifying for the final with a 12-point haul, while Doyle had dropped to the semis after also collecting 12.

A re-run was required in the semi after Doyle fell on the first bend but he dusted himself down and was then awarded the win when Hans Andersen came off, with Batchelor following him through after holding off Scott Nicholls.

But sadly Batchelor was unable to raise his game again in the final and he never featured in the race as Doyle romped to victory ahead of Iversen and Janowski.