SWINDON Robins team manager Alun Rossiter believes fans are yet to see Paul Starke’s true potential and is willing to stay patient as he decides on which rider will be signed up to his side at reserve.

There have been several changes already this season throughout Rossiter’s original septet, with number two Dawid Lampart replaced by the popular Rasmus Jensen, while reserve pairing James Shanes and Zach Wajtknecht have departed Wiltshire less than two months since the campaign began.

Ellis Perks was signed to fill the gap left by Shanes, but Rossiter is still yet to decide on who his second replacement at reserve will be.

Scotsman Starke came into the side as a guest ahead of the Robins’ home victory over King’s Lynn Stars in the SGB Premiership last Thursday, and was scheduled to take up the role once more for Swindon’s scheduled trip to Ipswich Witches yesterday – only for the wet weather in Suffolk to cause that meeting to be postponed.

Having scored just 3+1 points in the win over King’s Lynn last week, Rossiter revealed Starke will get another opportunity to impress on Monday night as league leaders Belle Vue Aces roll into town.

The Robins’ team manager said: “We didn’t see the real Paul Starke against King’s Lynn – he blew his best engine up at Redcar a few days before that meeting in the British semi-final and he was trying out another enginelast Thursday and that didn’t really work for him.

“He’s a pretty solid rider normally, and we’ve got enough time to have another good luck at him and decide what we do.

“He did OK last Thursday, but he wasn’t happy with his performance, which is good.

“I’m confident that, once he’s got his machinery sorted out, he’ll be fine.”

Starke, who doubles up with Glasgow Tigers in the Championship, carries an average of 4.08 and will be required to take a leading role at reserve if the Robins are to turn their poor away form around in the league.

And Rossiter admitted Starke is not the only rider he is considering offering a deal to, but if performances like the one that saw the Scotsman qualify for the British Final emerge in Swindon colours, the Robins boss is hopeful no more team changes will have to be made and the Wiltshire side can start to make a charge towards the top of the table.

Rossiter said: “There’s a couple of people in consideration, but I would say Paul is the frontrunner at the moment.

“You know what you’re going to get with him. He’s more than capable of doing well, so Monday’s meeting against Belle Vue is another good opportunity for him.

“He wants to ride in this league, he has experience of all the tracks, and he probably would have won the British semi-final at Redcar had it not been for his engine blowing up in the last race.”

No rescheduled date has yet been announced for last night’s postponed meeting at Ipswich, although that is expected to be revealed in the coming days.