Last week at Poole the Purton born and raised rider made his Robins comeback, now he talks about his road to recovery

Few knew if he would walk again, let alone get on a bike to ride for his home team in the Elite League.

But that is what happened last week when he pulled on the Swindon Robins race suit to come to the aid of team boss Alun Rossiter.

The last time the 20-year-old was on the bike for the Robins, his meeting was curtailed in just the second heat in a meeting against the Coventry Bees when he hit the fence on the straight a metre before the start of the airbag after a collision with Jason Garrity.

Ritchings, whose daughter Poppy was watching her first speedway meeting, was rushed from the track in the back of an ambulance to the Great Western Hospital before being transferred to Oxford, where he was put into an induced coma for 12 days.

“I was nervous but I was trying not to think about it too much and I was excited because it was my home debut,” recalls Ritchings as he sits in the workshop at the bottom of his parents’ garden, with his Robins kevlars still hanging proudly above the bike he is working on.

“I was practising my reactions with my brother in the pits and I remember going on the parade and waving to Poppy and that was it.

“I don’t remember watching heat one. I don’t even remember putting my helmet on.

“The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a hospital and people were saying to me that I had been in an accident and I didn’t know how bad it was.”

Ritchings lies prone on the track after his horror crash at the Abbey in April last year

Ritchings was two when he first got his first experience on a bike.

“It was a Puch Maxi. It was a road bike but my dad cut it down so it was the size for us,” Ritchings reminisces.

His father, Nigel, had ridden grass track and had already got Darryl’s older brother Declan into racing, with his hand-me-downs making their way into the grips of his younger brother.

“I think the first time I rode a bike was when I was two-years-old and I remember I ran over my foot and I said to my dad that I didn’t want to ride a bike anyway and that was that,” says Ritchings.

“I stopped for two years and got back on when I was four and ever since, it has just been bikes.”

Ritchings started racing grass track when he was six, where he won a number of national titles before a special Christmas present saw him head to the shale.

“For a Christmas present, Declan and I shared one of Leigh Adams old speedway bikes,” he says.

“I practised at Newport on it and at Swindon’s mini track, and then I joined the under 15s and that was it.

“I quit the grass track and focused on speedway and this is where we are now.”

Ritchings at press and practice ahead of his debut season with his boyhood club

For a child who grew up watching the Robins from the grass bank, where he would run around pretending to be his favourite riders Jimmy Neilson and Leigh Adams, pulling on the red, white and black of the Robins was always a dream.

In 2013, Josh Bates had been selected in the December reserve draft by the Robins, but was released to take up a place with Premier League Sheffield Tigers.

That left Swindon chief Rossiter needing a new reserve to complete his septet and Ritchings, who was also set to ride in the National League with King’s Lynn, was given the chance.

“I’ve been going to speedway as long as I can remember,” adds Ritchings.

“I didn’t ever imagine riding for Swindon, but it was always a dream.

“I knew it was going to be a little way off, but it came around sooner than I expected with the fast draft.

“I think the fast-track is good and I think that maybe it should be in the Premier League as well, because for myself to go from the National League to the Elite League is a massive step.

“I remember Rosco rung me and he said that he was going to give me a shot for Swindon, and I had just come back from the gym, so I went straight back to the gym as soon as he said that.

“It was an awesome feeling to be signing for Swindon last year, but it is just a shame that it didn’t work out.”

Ritchings’ first meeting for Swindon came away at Lakeside, a notoriously small track which suited the young rider, who was 19 at the time, given his background of riding on the mini track at the Abbey.

Despite a nervous start, Ritchings battled hard to earn his first three points in a narrow three-point defeat.

“I was very nervous ahead of that first meeting,” explains Ritchings.

“I went with my dad, my mum and my little brother and we were there quite early.

“Riding for my home town; I was pretty nervous, but I thought rode quite well at Lakeside.

“It took me a few races to get going but I was looking forward to a big season.

“I think they had a 5-1 in heat two and it was good to get a point for Swindon, but to go in the next race and get a second - I was really chuffed with that.”

That meeting was followed by Ritchings’ home debut at the Abbey Stadium against Coventry, a day that should have been one of the highlights of the young rider’s career but was marred by his horror crash.

The 20-year-old has since watched the replay of the accident, something that was easier said than done, but ultimately ensured that he continued racing.

“It was hard. The first time I watched it was very difficult,” says Ritchings, is still visibly affected by the incident as he recalls it.

“Personally, I only wanted to watch it to see if I was at fault.

“I think I am quite a safe ride, and I didn’t think I would do something like that.

“I brought the DVD in and watched the replay and personally I do think that (Coventry’s) Jason Garrity was a bit hard on me and that is what caused my accident.

“I said that if it was my fault, I wouldn’t ride again.

“The fact I thought it was him; that is why I decided to carry on.

“Now I want people to remember me for my racing and not my accident.”

It was Good Friday, the same day that Lee Kilby, the son of Robins hero Bob, took to his pushbike to raise money for the injured Ritchings, that the Purton rider could first comprehend what had happened to him.

Ritchings suffered a broken ankle, however it took just 19 days before he was out of hospital, something that surprised everyone.

“It took me about two to three weeks to even think about speedway again,” says Ritchings.

“It shocked a lot of people, especially all the doctors at Oxford, because they said it would take a year for me to be feeling fine again.

“It was a difficult time for everyone and it was a very hard time.

“I don’t really think about how lucky I was - it is hard to explain.

“I still don’t see it now as how fortunate I am to be here, but I pulled through.

“I still suffer from tiredness, but other than that, there are no other effects of the accident.”

Ritchings’ speedy recovery continued and it wasn’t long before he was back on two wheels in the form of a motocross bike.

Ritchings with friends and family on charity bike ride to raise money for the unit at Jon Radcliffe Hospital where he was treated after his crash

In September last year, he was again in the saddle as he used pedal power to raise money for the hospital that nursed him to recovery and a month later, he took his first tentative steps back on to the shale of the speedway track down on the Isle of Wight.

“I hired the track out on the Isle of Wight and the first thing I did was a wheelie down the home straight and it all came back to me,” says Ritchings.

“That was really a test to see if I could still do it, and after that, I was sure that it was what I wanted to do.”

Over the winter, Ritchings was determined to get himself a ride in the National League but found it tough following a year out of the sport.

However, Coventry Storm took the plunge and Ritchings could not hide his nerves as he took to the tapes in his first meeting back.

“People had kind of forgotten about me and I didn’t really have much interest from clubs,” adds Ritchings.

“I can remember getting the bikes ready the year I went to ride for Swindon and I was buzzing. When I started doing that again, I was getting excited.

“Going into the first corner, there were all four of us going in and I was very anxious.

“After that race, it was fine and I did a first full meeting for Coventry - I think it was at Birmingham - and I scored eight points and I was a bag of nerves before that meeting, but after that, I was full of confidence.”

It was 11am last Tuesday when Ritchings received a call he had been hoping for ever since he left John Radcliffe Hospital.

With Lewis Rose out injured, Rossiter was in need of a reserve rider and turned to a familiar face to ride at Wimborne Road.

Ritchings scored just one point, but is now looking to put his accident well behind him and still has the burning ambition to be back in the main body of a Swindon Robins side.

“Riding for Swindon again was unbelievable and now I am just enjoying my racing again,” he said.

“I don’t want people to just remember me for the crash.

“Hopefully, next year, I will be able to get in a Premier League space and the future goal is to be with Swindon again.

“That is all I have known; Swindon Speedway. And that is where I want to be.”