LEIGH Adams confirmed that this weekend's Polish Grand Prix at Bydgoszcz will be his last.The 38-year-old Australian has been a regular in the series since 1996, appearing in 114 GPs and winning eight.

LEIGH Adams confirmed that this weekend's Polish Grand Prix at Bydgoszcz will be his last.

The 38-year-old Australian has been a regular in the series since 1996, appearing in 114 GPs and winning eight.

Going into Saturday's final round of the 2009 campaign, Adams is currently placed 11th with little likelihood of amassing enough points to gain a top eight place and a ticket to the 2010 series.

His past record might have made him a contender for a wild-card, but Adams has opted to call time on his GP career.

“This is it,” says Leigh. “I still feel as though I can put a lot into it, but to run 11 rounds and be consistent is very tough.

“I don't want to be in there making numbers up, I want to be there pushing for the World Championship.

“Obviously this year has been ultra-disappointing, it would have been nice to have bowed out in a better fashion, but the time has come to let the young 'uns take over.

“I've realised I'm not going to be World Champion. That's a difficult thing to come to terms with, but then you look at all the good.

"I've had a lot of good years, 2007 was my best when we pushed Nicki (Pedersen) right to the end, it was only in the last couple of rounds, when I was injured, that I couldn't give it any more.

“So, we've had good years, you can't dwell on these things. There are two things I haven't got, a league championship for Swindon and being World Champion! (Leigh's British club, Swindon, lost to Wolverhampton last Monday in the Elite League play-off final).

“That's life isn't it? The sun always comes up the next day.”

Leigh admits his family, wife Kylie, son Declyn (11) and daughter Casey (7), had a large bearing upon his decision.

“That is a big factor, I've got to start concentrating on that,” he said. “I've done a pretty hard schedule for maybe the past ten or more years, running 110 plus meetings a year, but Declyn's in secondary school now, it's a pretty full-on lifestyle I can tell you.

“It's time to look for them and wind it back a bit.”

Leigh revealed he'd more-or-less made his mind up this would be his final GP campaign before the start of this season.

“I don't know whether that's been a factor in my results, whether I've been a bit more laid-back with it. I can't put my finger on it, I've felt great every Grand Prix I've gone to and gone bad, work that one out!”

Leigh said he had no plans to stop league racing, and hoped to be back with Swindon in the British Elite League, and Leszno in the Polish Extraleague in 2010.

His best two Grand Prix seasons were 2007, when he finished runner-up to Nicki Pedersen, and 2005 when he was third behind Tony Rickardsson and Jason Crump.