We had an ambitious trip ahead of us. The locally based Blunsdon Bloggers David Lewis, Neil Wise (he of Tattinger Marsh) and me, Phil Rice, started with a long journey to Ipswich where we were staying overnight.
The Robins were at Foxhall Heath and after some difficulty finding the track that I had not been for some ten years we arrived after a circuitous but attractive drive though the rural outer suburbs of the Suffolk town.
We wished early on that we had not bothered as the Robins were eight down after two races and 12 a couple of heats later. But with six of the boys winning heats the Robins gradually pulled the deficit back and with Mads in great form he and Leigh had only to draw the last heat to pull off an unlikely win….but Mads and Leigh did leaving Scott Nicholls to take the win but Daniel King left well and truly at the rear.
I have never really liked Ipswich but you can tell that the management have worked hard at trying to make the place look slightly attractive but it could do with a pile of money spending on the stadium. But with a crowd of surely no more than 700 in, it must be a struggle.
I personally was in a state of great excitement as it looked as if in addition to our three planned meetings in Poland there could be a fourth. On Friday evening we found that Grudziadz were at home. It’s only about 50 miles from Bydgoszcz. Enquiries via Simon Stead told us that the meeting started at 5 pm – too early for us as our flight to Bydgoszcz. was only due in at 4.30. Never mind! In any case fellow Bloggers Dave Dow from Tamworth and Neil Calvert from south East London who had joined us at Stansted probably would have probably preferred to watch the England v Algeria World Cup game.
We eventually arrived at our hotel at about 6.45 pm – just in time to watch that game. Great!!!!
Next day after finding the parts of Bydgoszcz we were in not that special, we decided to take the 25 mile journey to Torun and, even for my need to be everywhere early, arriving at the Stadium at 12.20 was a new record!
However first of all we thought we’d go and find the Bydgoszcz track and there was bit going on and we had a brief chat with 17 year old Symon Wozniak who looks about 15. Clearly well sponsored and speaking good English surely it is only a matter of time before an enterprising English promoter takes a look. We’ll find out more tomorrow. There was stacks of room for the riders with each of the home ones having a garage of his own.
Anyway back to Torun. A quick look round this wonderful facility and we made our way to the old part of what is one of our favourite speedway cities and a delicious lunch.
The quick journey back to the Marion Rose Motorarena at around 3.30 and we were now in the mood. A couple of beers in the open air bar area, full already with about 1000 plus red shirted Poles enjoying the sun and the music.
Entrance into the stadium proved that all the stories were true. What a place! But wait a minute; Swindon’s centre green is in a better state.
Only one criticism. We could not get a programme even two hours before the meeting. I was getting stressed(!) but one of our party managed to get one off a friendly German. I have to say IMG reacted quickly when I emailed them on our return.
The racing from our exceptional viewpoint was terrific and of course three Poles, including the Blog’s own favourite Rune Holta, occupying the podium, it only added to the atmosphere.
Next morning and we are off to Pila for a division two fixture against Ostrow. The journey takes about 90 minutes along smooth, flat roads that no doubt we have all helped to pay for. Lunch in the open air bar outside the stadium helped to get the day off to a good start.
When we decided to go to Pila, it was partly because Simon Stead would probably be riding. But Simon indicated at Ipswich that this was unlikely for reasons a bit outside his control and the side could have done with him as they went down by 19 points. The racing here was good with a number of veterans, a few young lads and a two Russians. A couple of nasty looking crashes held up the meeting and we had to leave after heat 11 to get back to Bydgoszcz for the 7 pm match against Jason Crump’s Wroclaw.
Facilities at Pila are a bit basic but there is seating all round the stadium. However the racing was good but here another small crowd of about 700 which for quite a small town is probably not bad. The Speedway Star suggested there was 3,000 there – must be a mistake in translation.
We arrived at Bydgoszcz about 30 minutes before the meeting started. Some of us had been here a few seasons ago for a GP and the experience had not been good. Bullied out of the seats we had wanted to occupy, we had watched the speedway hanging off metal posts to get a decent view.
But this evening a smallish crowd of 5,000 (well by Polish standards!) meant there was plenty of room to watch the away side make it three away wins out of three on the Bloggers Tour. None of us had ever seen an Extraleague fixture before and my impressions were that it’s very intense; the racing was close but not too much passing in this fixture on a slick track. Our Symon Wozniak looked good with eight points from six rides including a heat win. One for the future.
In Poland they take their speedway very seriously and at the end of the home defeat. A small number of fans made their way to the pit gates, by now locked, and tried to kick them down. We decided to make our exit before the riot police who we had seen earlier did what they would have had to. There’s a lot of alcohol at Polish speedway!
So the end of an excellent weekend. Good company, very good food and a bit of Polish beer. Three of us are off to Gorican at the end of August but other than the GP there, no other speedway….unless you know something we don’t!
By the way we travel by Fly by Night tours, always knowingly undersold……but thanks to proprietor David Lewis we never get lost!
