ROBINS’ skipper Troy Batchelor believes the next two Grand Prixs will decide whether or not he will retain his place for next season The Aussie currently sits 13th in the standings, 10 points behind Krzysztof Kasprzak who holds the final spot in the top eight which provides an automatic place for next year’s series.

After exiting GP qualifying at the semi-final stage, a top eight spot is Batchelor’s only realistic hope of making the GP for 2015, and believes his result in Latvia this weekend and then Gorzow in a fortnight hold the key.

“I think the next two GPs or so will decide what’s going to happen from there,” he said.

“It’s all pretty close at the moment and it’s definitely there for the taking, but who knows what will happen.

“Obviously Copenhagen was great for me and if I can ride close to that again then anything can happen.”

Practice in Riga was cancelled yesterday due to rain, with another session planned for today, which Batchelor believes will be vital given none of the riders have competed at Bikerniecki before.

“I’ve seen photos and things here and there but we need to look at the track and make the best decisions you can,” he said.

“It’s kind of a level playing field. It’s definitely going to be an exciting one. You speak to other riders normally and try and get a fair idea of what the tracks are like. But we can’t do that for this one.

“I’ll just take my best few bikes, have a walk of the track and go with my gut feeling, which sometimes is wrong. But you have to go with what you think is best. I’ll turn up with all my kit and see how we go.”