Illegal immigrants? Squatters? No, I'm not from Rochdale and I don't conceive of myself as being a bigot but we were made aware of a pair of squatters in the pits at Blunsdon on Thursday. Talk about the most inappropriate place to build a home. But then I suppose that when the pair of doves concerned were looking at it, this place seemed to be a real "des res" - quiet, secluded, protected from the weather ... ideal. Well, ideal until a Thursday race day comes along. These two young lovers have set up their little "love nest" on a pillar immediately above the space where Simon Stead's bikes will stand in the Swindon pits. At half past five their idyllic peace and tranquility will be shattered by the roaring, spitting fury of two 500cc speedway bikes being warmed up by Simon's ace mechanic Darryl.
But to matters of speedway ...
Last week we had the frustration of steady rain throughout the day and then a late down pour which ended all hopes of the match against Eastbourne taking place. However, as they say "Every dark cloud has a silver lining" and our little glimpse of silver was that all of the banners had been washed and were ready to be put up when we arrived at the track this Thursday after a drive to the stadium via the Polling Booth, to do my constitutional, and to Cirencester, to pick up a transport less Arron.
While we waited for the air bags to fill and for Arron to mow the centre green, Mark and I assisted Punch with modifications to a small water cart that we plan to use during the meeting. The old "Mowlex" muck spreader that we use during the day is just too large to manoeuvre during meetings and this little cart has been sorely underused in recent years.
We bolt a strong steel bar across the back of tank and then attach a copper pipe with water jets evenly spaced out along its length. The steel will protect the delicate copper piping that will spray water evenly across half the track as it is pulled by a tractor. With a pump attached to the front of the tank and controlled by pull strings from the tractor's cab, we should be able to target our watering much more effectively during a meeting should we ever have the appearance of dust at Blunsdon.
While Mark, Roy and I hook up the fences and the catch netting, Punch and Ronnie are carrying out some cosmetic surgery on the three wheeled beast. It now sports a new front tyre but the bodywork is still eccentric to say the least. Quite what was revered into the front in a previous existence I dread to think but Ron and Punch have a solution. Ron revs up a tractor with a chain on it, Punch attaches the hook on the chain to the front bodywork and Ron pulls back and pulls out the damaged area. It still looks decidedly odd, but not as odd as before. Ron is delighted with the work.
Mark and I decide that we need to practice before we venture out during a meeting. Mark and Roy oversee the filling (to half full) of the large water tank on the back of the beast and then we venture up through the pits and over the greyhound track before making a very controlled descent to the white line on turn 3.
While Mark starts up the pressure washer, I turn the beast round, select first gear and set off towards the kickboards of the main straight. Our aim is to wet the boards on our first lap, thus loosening the dried shale and clay, and then blast it off on the second pass.
I am vaguely aware that a crowd has gathered at the pit gate to watch us as we drive along the boards. The noise of the diesel engine and the petrol powered pressure washer drown out any external noises but it does seem to me that I can hear laughter in the background - surely not!
Success - the two lap blast gets rid of all the shale from the boards.
With our new found confidence, we turn around and drive clockwise around the white line allowing Mark to blast away any shale that has fallen onto the white line. Again, two laps and it really looks good.
Back at Pit Gate the crowd now includes young Cory Gathercole, who has come up early to try out some practice starts on the training track with a new set up he's been experimenting with. Whatever that set up alteration is, it certainly works as our young Aussie puts in easily his best home performance of the season in the victory over Peterborough.
But I digress ... there is a palpable sense of anticipation as Mark and I arrive at the white line near the pit gate. Last week we managed to get as far as the greyhound track before the revs died and we rolled backwards back down across the track. This time I selected 1st gear, having briefly dallied with the heady speeds enjoyed in 3rd gear down the back straight. Foot to the floor and we lurched off up the banking, onto the greyhound track and even managed an entirely unaided turn into the bay where we store machinery during meetings. Success!!
On either side of lunch we finished the roping up of all the banners and then put out the rubber kickboards and the banners themselves, each one now firmly pinned in place on the wire safety fence behind the air fence.
Late afternoon and time for a wander around the pits. The Peterborough lads all seem to have adopted the team colours for their bikes. GP star Kenneth Bjerre will captain the team tonight in the absence of Niels Kristian Iverson, injured in a Danish League match the night before. Alongside Bjerre's bikes are those of Ulrich Oestergaard although the bikes do shows more than one moniker of Hans Andersen.
In the home pits ex Swindon rider Troy Batchelor chats with Leigh Adams' Polish mechanic as the latter makes adjustments to Adams' number 1 bike while Leigh is being interviewed for a feature on a forthcoming Sky programme.
Cory has returned to the track having briefly gone back to his workshop after the morning's practice session. He's very pleased with whatever changes they have wrought on the bikes. "The bikes pulls away so evenly and with such power ... it's heaps better than it was before. I'm really looking forward to tonight." Ron reckons that Cory needs to focus more during meetings and not be his usual affable self. Indeed, next to Cory is our new lockable store so the threat is if Cory gets too lively he'll be locked in there and only allowed out when his turn to race comes round! Is this Swindon's own version of the "naughty step"?
Under the roof of the main stand I find Rob Bamford lurking by the souvenier shop. "Don't say that I own it or even that I work here. This belongs to my friends and they only allow me to stand here out of the goodness of their hearts." When I ask about a photograph Rob is mortified. "What do you want me to do?" "How about looking busy." So he is and I take the photo.
The track is still a little wet. Even this late in the day, water is still seeping down from the sand of the greyhound track. Punch runs around turns 3 and 4 with the hydraulic grader and makes a lot more dirt. In fact, when we have a close look it seems as if there will be no shortage of dirt on the track tonight.
The insides of turns 2 and 4 have been ripped and then lightly packed to give extra low down grip while the start gates have been prepared as per the instructions of the Robins.
The four photographs above give a rider's eye view from the starting gates - gate one on the top left to gate four on the bottom right.
Gate one shows the problems that face a rider off the inside. The run to turn 1 is quite long in speedway terms so entry speed is high but the corner pulls away to the left sharply. Gates 2 and 3 appear to have a better run through to the corner although there is a long, long way to go for the rider on the outside who needs to get across the other three or risk being hung out to dry on the first turn and be perilously close to the air fence.
Back the terraces for a walk up to the pits. The view from the souvenier stall is across the tarmaced terrace and thence the greyhound track and then the speedway track.
Further up towards turn four is the Paddock bar with its excellent disabled ramp and viewing terrace.
From up on the terrace the view is excellent across the whole track, and it is from here that the biggest roar comes up when, at the end of the meeting, the good patrons of the Paddock spy Mark and I as we inch out onto the track with the beast in an attempt to blast as much dirt away from the air fence banners as possible and clean the kickboards.
Sky is here on Monday and so we will have to get everything spick and span in readiness and there might not be too much spare time on Monday morning so the more we can get done now, the better. We at least get the boards cleaned although the thick shale on some banners proves too much even for our pressure washer.
The talk is of overly slick tracks at speedway tracks - well, not here. There's so much dirt at Blunsdon that the tractors sometimes have difficulty pulling it all back down from near the fence.
Luckily for us, earlier in the day I had made some repairs to a damaged fence panel so that we could at least have three spare ready for the meetings to come (before our new panels arrive). As luck would have it, Simon Stead's foot slips from his foot rest as he enters turns 1 at speed and he and his bike hurtle into the air fence, the dirt deflector ripping the bottom out of an entire panel. Once again, the team on turns 1 and 2 do us proud, changing an air panel in excellent time and the meeting continues. But we are down to two spares ... I cannot rest easy until heat 15 is completed on Monday.
Swedish GP from Ullevii tonight, scene of Rune's greatest performance in 2008. Team Holta GB will be out on the sofa in force cheering him on again tonight. Go Rune!!
