Scott Nicholls diary: Getting ready for Sweden

My week started with a home defeat for Eastbourne, not a great result.

I had a bit of a nightmare with two crashes an exclusion and three race wins. I didn’t agree with the exclusion by the referee, he thought that I collected the other rider, but in reality we were after the same space on the track. It was a racing accident.

It was a bit like my Polish form has been, either a race win or I don’t finish.

I had the luxury of a weekend off and even got around to celebrating my daughter Mia’s first and my 30th birthday. It was nice to have family and friends around, and rare in mid season.

I was riding in Sweden last night and we had a good win. I scored 12 points which I was quite happy with.

It shows that the work we have been doing on the engines is going the right way. I actually have something that I feel that I can win races on now.

It’s back to Sweden tomorrow for Saturday’s Swedish Grand Prix. It’s a brand new track they’ve laid in the Ullevi stadium and I am one of the few riders to have ridden it.

They asked me and Greg Hancock to test it for them 10 days or so ago and that can only be a benefit. You don’t know what they will have done to it in the meantime though.

Mind you I don’t think that it will radically change, the shape will stay the same.
It is a big fast track.

Compared to Leszno, (venue for the previous Swedish GP), which is also big and fast but that’s more of a round track so you don’t turn a lot, you are certainly going to turn here though!

The straights are going to be exceptionally fast which is pretty cool. Hopefully it will produce good racing for the riders and the fans.

I’ve had two good GP’s in Ullevi in the past so I am hoping that will continue.

I’ve not had a great start to the season so far, but luckily no one has romped away with maximum points so far so a couple of good results and we can get back in the hunt.

It’s the first event of the Super Prix but that’s not really on my mind right now. The Super Prix may be worth $200,000, but I need to get my season underway properly.

The most important thing for me is to go there and ride the best that I can.

The FIM Sapa Swedish Speedway Grand Prix is live on Sky Sports 1 from 6pm Saturday, May 24, 2008