SWINDON Robins rider Troy Batchelor led from start to finish as he claimed the Elite League Riders Championship after a great performance at King’s Lynn.

Batchelor looked in fine form ahead of the play-offs as he rode his way to the crown which he has taken from King’s Lynn rider Rory Schlein.

Starting in lane one for the final, the Aussie knew that he had to attack the first corner and after getting his front wheel ahead he never looked like conceding the lead.

The Aussie rider made it all the way to the final after winning three of his heats and stormed to victory in the semi-final ahead of Maciej Janowski, Bjarne Pederson and Hans Andersen.

It was a disappointing night for the Robins other two riders North and Kildemand who finished well down the field without either claiming a win.

Kildemand and North were the first up for the Robins in the third heat against last year's winner Rory Schlein (King's Lynn) and Jacob Thorsell (Wolverhampton).

The Dane made a good start in his first heat but he was just beaten into the first corner by last year's champ Schlein, while North never recovered after slipping to the back in the first corner.

In the fourth heat Batchelor had the inside lane going into the first corner and just stayed ahead of Jason Doyle ( Leicester) but went wide on the second corner to give up the lead and he could not get back.

Batchelor got his first win of the meeting in his second race when he beat Schlein in 59.20 seconds, after Zagar was excluded for missing the two minute time allowance. However it was not so good for the North and Kildemand who finished third and fourth respectively.

Batchelor was looking on fine form going into the play-offs and he got his second win in heat ten, but he was pushed all the way by Thorsell and the two nearly came together going into the first corner.

In heat eleven Kildemand could only manage third spot when Zagar made a flying start and never looked back. Kildemand got caught up behind former Robins’ rider Anderson and never looked like getting past.

It was a good couple of points for Dakota in heat fifteen when he finished behind the star of the show Zagar.

In heat sixteen it was not a good race for the Robins racers against two Poole Pirates riders. Kildemand was fighting for the lead in the first lap but after slipping to last place he pulled up, and Batchelor also struggled to make it over the line at the end.

With the top two going straight through to the final here it was important that Batchelor got some good points in his last race and he did just that claiming the win with North finishing second behind him.

However it was not enough for the Aussie to get a spot in the grand final automatically. Despite finishing on the same points as Zagar and Jason Doyle, he had to settle for a semi-final race on count back.

That didn’t matter for the Swindon rider though as he claimed victory in the semi-final, after taking the lead in the first corner he never looked back.ki In the final Batchelor had third pick of lanes and opted for the inside lane and it porved decisive as he attacked the first corner well and stormed to the front.

Batchelor was pushed all the way by Janowski who finished in second place ahead of Doyle in third and Zagar in last spot.