From gating to groceries – how Nicolai Klindt has adapted to speedway's COVID-19 shutdown

But you cannot imagine many of their new employees have an SGB Premiership, World Cup silver medal, European under-19 title and Danish under-21 speedway championship on their respective CVs.

Former Pirates star and Wimborne Road favourite Nicolai Klindt has swapped getting out of the gate for grocery deliveries over the past week, as he looks to keep himself occupied and finances ticking over while waiting to get back on track.

Klindt, who is set to ride in the SGB Premiership for Ipswich this season, is waiting to see when he can earn his living through racing.

But with COVID-19 determining when sport in the UK can resume, the Wolverhampton-based charger insists every little helps jumping into a van with Tesco, before getting on a bike once again.

He said: “There is more than one factor for me taking this job. I applied for this towards the end of March – just after Ipswich’s press day. I thought ‘well, I can see this dragging out’.

“Instead of spending my savings to pay bills with – I may as well try to find a job and it would also keep me busy.

“You are not very productive just sitting in your house doing nothing. From when the lockdown came into place, I have been trying to be active.

“I have been training one or two times a day, doing stuff around the house, spending loads more time with my daughter – we have been practicing on a pedal bike.

“But to just get out the house and do something has been something I had been missing.

“It’s been nice to take on this job and earn a little bit towards the bills – even though it’s not going to change the world for me. It’s nice, I am happy with this job.

“Four or five years ago, I was doing parcel deliveries for Yodel. I sort of thought it would be similar but it’s the total opposite.

“When I was doing parcels you didn’t have a time schedule, you just went out in the morning, delivered and when you were done, you went back.

“With this, everything is prepped, the route is planned so it saves me a lot of time. There was loads of things I had to get used to when I first started last week but after a couple of days I got into the routine.

“My hands are knackered from carrying trays and dropping trays on my hands! It’s long hours, long days but I am used to being up at 5am and going to bed in the middle of the night.

“The other day when I was driving, I was thinking ‘I am actually enjoying this job, quietly’.

“It was not what I was expecting to do this year but, for now, I am happy to have the chance to work for Tesco. My managers and colleagues have been super helpful and are lovely, good people.”

As well as competing in the UK this season, Klindt is set to ride for TZ Ostrovia in Poland as well as Holsted Tigers in his native Denmark.

With those leagues having also not yet set a return date, the Outrup-born star was keen to keep his finances in a stable position.

He had forked out on new equipment over the winter, as well as acquiring a new van, having previously crashed into a moose in an accident on the way back to Denmark last June.

“There are loads of different earnings within speedway. Loads of riders in different situations and positions,” he added.

“I have chosen to invest a lot of money in my equipment, not because I believe buying an engine is going to make me win races, but I am trying to improve.

“Going into the new season, having spent more or less the majority of the money I did have, I was in a position where I had to sit down and say ‘well if I cut this and that out, I need to pay these bills, this comes out each month’.

“I had this much left to keep me going until I think the start of July but then I would be broke. I don’t want to be broke. I don’t want to be in a position where I can’t pay my bills.

“That was one of the reasons I took on this job as well, because looking financially, you’ve got to be prepared for the worst.

“Luckily, I have been in this situation in the past where I haven’t had any money and also where my income has stopped from one day to another – as it’s done now.

“I wouldn’t say I was prepared for this situation – far from it – but I managed to change my look on things and my way of living quite easily, compared to how others have been.

“With a little bit of help from the job I have taken on, I can at least pay my bills for my house and day-to-day living and don’t have to take money out of my savings account for that.

“Then, whatever I have in my speedway account will pay my bills towards that at the minute.”

Finances aside, Klindt’s first year as a professional in the sport came back in 2006. He is a racer at heart and is missing the adrenaline rush of lining up at the tapes.

“I know I’m not the only one,” said the 31-year-old.

“Financially we are missing the income but that’s not the point of it. We are missing our normal lives.

“We are missing going to the meetings, racing, coming back – training for a purpose. At the minute when you are doing your workouts, you don’t know when or if we are going to start.

“It’s a bit harder to get motivated but if I could, I would jump on a bike tomorrow, no doubt about it.

“When I have been injured in the past, I was missing riding but this is totally different.

“I am super eager and one of the reasons I am is because over the past couple of winters, I have sort of gone into the season not wanting to start.

“It might sound wrong, but I didn’t feel right. There were a few things missing and stuff like that.

“This year I felt super keen, super fit, organised and properly ready to take on the challenges that were ahead for this season. It makes it harder to put a hold on it.”

He added: “The thing is, England, Denmark and Sweden. If you ask them, they don’t have a clue of when they are going to start.

“No-one has because it’s all down to government and the rules and regulations they put out.

“I have got a couple more months of delivering groceries.”