DANNY Ayres has told how a knee brace may have saved his season from coming to a premature end.
The Glasgow reserve feared the worst as he fell in heat two in Sunday’s match with Redcar after a coming-together in lap two with team-mate Coty Garcia.
Ayres ended up in the air fence and was immediately writhing on the ground with pain in his right leg.
But he quickly rose to his feet and limped back to the pits – winning the re-run moments later.
The 29-year-old revealed: “We went in a bit straight and my knee jarred. I was a little bit worried for a while – I don’t stay down unless I’m hurt. But I’m walking round fine now.
“If you look at the knee brace, you would say it’s saved my leg, because the frame is bent and the carbon fibre is snapped. It’s saved the rest of my season.”
Ayres was delighted to win the re-run, so much so that he bowed down to the grandstand on his victory lap and hugged mascot Roary.
He added: “I’m a fighter. I’ve always said that I’m very privileged and proud to put the jacket on and all I want to do is win.
“I’ve scored six points – with a little bit more we could’ve put paid six on top of that. But at the moment, I’m just trying to be relaxed, calm and learn.
“I’m at about 70% of my game here, and a lot of these boys are on top of their game, so there are still a lot of positives.”