Gladiators Ready
The newly rebranded Plymouth Jarvis Nuclear Gladiators had their official press and practice day last Saturday afternoon (April 13th).
We caught up with Plymouth’s co promoter and team manager Mattie Bates to get his thoughts on how it went.
“I think all in all it was a really successful day. All the lads really cracked on with it and by the end of the day, they all looked like they are ready to do a fabulous job for the club this season”.
The practice was open to supporters to catch a glimpse of the seven riders representing Plymouth this season in their brand new team suits as well as meeting brand new club mascot (Maximus the Gladiator).
Bates said: “we had positive feedback from our supporters and that is something as a club we are really happy with.
With a new points limit being given to each team at 36 points per team for this season, compared to last seasons 39 point limit, it was a little more mind boggling to build the team but we feel the line up is built of a solid 1 to 7”.
The Jarvis Nuclear Gladiators will start their season off when they host the Kent Kings in National Trophy action this Friday (April 19th).
“On paper Kent probably look like the strongest team” said Bates “but it’s a good test for us to see our strengths and weaknesses. Anything we need to focus and work on as a team I believe this meeting will show us exactly what that may be”.
We also caught up with Gladiators captain Richard Andrews about his thoughts for the upcoming season.
Andrews said: “I’m really excited for this season. Mark and Mattie have put together a great team. We’ve only spent one full day together as a team which was at press and practice but we are already working well together and helping each other out.
It’s a big season for not just myself but the club as well. So much hard work has been put into the track, the rebrand, everything really, I just hope it gets the backing it deserves”. Friday nights meeting starts at 7:15pm with gates opening at 5:45pm.