Kyle sets his sights on the GP (From Bournemouth Echo)

Kyle sets his sights on the GP

7:00am Friday 30th January 2009

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PIRATES new boy Kyle Legault may be chasing the Argentinean national title at the moment.

But the Canadian youngster has admitted his long-term aim is to secure Grand Prix status.

Legault, who has joined Poole Castle Cover on loan this year, is currently second going into the next round of the Argentinean Championship at Cordoba today.

The penultimate round is at the same venue tomorrow as he looks to close a two-point gap leader Lee Complin, of Stoke, holds over him.

Ontario-born Legault, who will line up in a 2010 GP qualifier at Lonigo, Italy, in June, said: “I’m setting my sights on the GP.

“That’s the main aim in my career, to get there, both for myself and for Canada.

“I want to help put Canadian speedway on a different level by achieving GP status and also for the future of speedway to grow in my country.”

The 23-year-old has already suffered two big setbacks in his chase for a regular place in the individual world championship.

In 2007, he broke his wrist in a first heat fall in the GP qualifier final at Vojens, Denmark, before doggedly riding through the pain barrier to complete his five rides with a one-point tally.

Then, last year, Legault bravely returned from 12 weeks out after breaking a thigh in a crash at Birmingham to take his place in a GP qualifier at Lonigo.

It wasn’t a fairytale ending, though, as the three-times Canadian champion only bagged three points from his five outings to miss out again.

Legault, whose father Fred is a former rider, said: “What I achieved two years ago to reach the GP qualifier final was cool. That was a big step in my career.

“Last year, with the injury, I tried everything I could to ride in Italy but it just didn’t come off.

“I wasn’t anywhere near being 100 per cent fit for that meeting.

“Now I’m looking forward togoing back to Lonigo and ultimately trying to go one step |further than I did two years |ago.”

Legault will become only the third Canadian to line up in Poole’s colours, after Dave Dodd in 1960 and eight-time Canadian champion Gary Ford in 1978.

If he gets into the GP, Legault would be Canada’s first representative in the world championship finals since Eric Chitty in 1937.

Only Jimmy Gibb, a non-riding reserve in the 1938 final, has |also done better than Legault junior.

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