GLASGOW star Coty Garcia is going on reccy missions around Britain’s speedway tracks – in a bid to get the edge on his rivals.
The Argentinian wasn’t satisfied with his match-winning performance on Sky Sports against Edinburgh a fortnight ago and insists he has to get better.
Now the 21-year-old – who went from hero to zero with a no-score at Scunthorpe on Sunday – is working “100% every day” to get it right.
And he plans to visit a Premier League circuit every 24 hours over the next couple of weeks for practice before going there for real with the Tigers.
Garcia is hoping his hard work will pay off when he joins his Glasgow team-mates at Edinburgh tomorrow for their KO Cup quarter-final first leg.
He said: “After the Sky meeting when I watched it back, I noticed I was making some mistakes on the bike, so I’ve been trying to take meetings as a guest and making changes.
“I watched the match to see my mistakes – I couldn’t make a proper gate, which is quite disappointing. Everyone was saying that it was a good meeting for me because I scored well – but it’s not good when you can’t make the gate and you’re making plenty of mistakes on the bike – so I’m working hard on it.
“I’m hard on myself because I want to come back next year. This season is special with the Tigers because I love the club, so I must work 100% every single day on the bike and training because my plan is to come back next year. And if I want to come back, I must be a stronger rider for Glasgow.
“In the next couple of weeks I will travel to every single Premier League meeting I can – even if I’m not riding with Glasgow – just to ride in the second half, for more experience on that track and to test set-ups, so that the next time I’m there with Glasgow I will do better. That is the idea.”
Garcia is already synonymous with Edinburgh v Glasgow derbies. Not only did he produce the heroics last month, he was a star guest for the Monarchs at Armadale in last season’s League Cup final – scalping Tigers No 1 Richard Lawson.
He says it’s a track he is constantly improving on, but insists Glasgow must up their act on the road.
He added: “Edinburgh is a tough track but the last time we were there, it was really close, so we will go for it. It’s better to win away. The last time I was there I was really unlucky and only scored five points, but every single time I’m scoring one or two more points, so I’m getting better. I went there for Ryan Fisher’s testimonial to try things and it went well.
“It’s always big pressure riding against Edinburgh – they are the league champions from last season. But we need to prove ourselves and start to win our away meetings, because that has been our problem so far. We are making mistakes so we must start to do better in the away meetings.”
Glasgow have called in two guests for the fixture – former Danish U21 star Lasse Bjerre, who rides in place of Richie Worrall at No 3, and Workington’s Matt Williamson – who races for Nike Lunna at No 6. Rene Bach will start at No 2 with Garcia at No 4.
Lunna, however, is said to be on the brink of a return to action following a spell out with a broken hand.
The Tigers are back in Premier League action at the Peugeot Ashfield Stadium at 3pm on Sunday against Rye House Rockets.