Time to reflect on a week of lows and highs for Edinburgh Speedway. Wednesday 26th was the day that West Lothian Council were deciding all the planning applications for new supermarket developments in Armadale, including the one we had a direct interest in - Sainsburys.
However the day started as normal - no swamp - so we were able to get on with some more "odd jobs" including a mini version of last week's rain machine for the back of the crop sprayer. After a bit of cutting and drilling (and then more drilling in the right place) ace welder Ronnie fixed the new frame to the rear of the sprayer and the new spray head was clamped into place ready for action on Friday.
An interesting diversion while on top of the tanker checking the water hoses was a flock? of swallows gathering mud for their nests from a puddle formed by water leaking from the water tanker. (nb. Several works of reference suggest it should be a “flight” or, more bizzarely, a “gulp” of swallows).
After returning home the news came out that Sainsburys planning application had been refused, supposedly on the grounds that the new building was 2.5% too big ! Strangely enough the Council in their wisdom favoured an application for another site which just happened - allegedly - to be on land owned by the Council. This is a massive setback as Sainsburys had promised the club a substantial payment towards relocation costs. The Monarchs directors are to meet soon to decide on Plan B, if there is one.
Friday dawned after overnight rain which had flooded the swamp again so it was out with the buckets again, our pump still being under repair. When most of the water had been removed Ronnie then filled the larger puddle with some road surfacing material using the Bobcat and smoothed out the area.
All went well, more track preparation work was completed, and about 3 p.m. we took delivery of 15 tons of new shale, which was to prove vital as events proved later on.
The forecast for Friday was scattered showers and rain from the West later. Anyhow, just after the gates opened at 5 p.m. the heavens opened "with a vengeance" as TM would say, flooding the circuit, particularly on the third bend. By Jim and I digging a channel along the inside line, while Alex worked on the other problem area out by the fence in the run into the first bend. Gravity and some brushwork diverted much of the H2O down the nearest drain and some half an hour's work removed most of the surface water. Fortunately Doc Bridgett had held back on the earlier watering so it was possible to add several loads of dry shale and then let the sun and wind do it's stuff. As Doc remarked, if the rain had been half an hour later we would have been in big trouble.
Obviously this is what we have been doing wrong all season because in heat 1 of the meeting against Scunthorpe Ryan Fisher obliterated the 4-year old track record by 0.7 of a second, reducing it to 53.9, whereupon just to prove it was no fluke, young Kalle returned a time of 54.4 in heat 2.
All that remained was lifting the very wet and heavy covers from the dog track - a great effort by all concerned, rounded off a week of high drama, and we now await future developments from Sainsburys and the club.
Phew
Ian
Congratulations to Ian and the team for producing such a wonderful racing strip inspite of the conditions. Let's all hope that the future of Edinburgh Speedway is to be to guaranteed soon.
