The reference to the scaffolding pole will come later but it may also feature in our essential equipment guide to speedway racing, alongside the humble cable tie.
It was a long old day on Thursday - I had been up since 3pm driving a friend and his family to Gatwick airport for a 7am check in for their flight to Tobago. So by the time that I reached the track it was 10am and I was already feeling just a little jaded.
The air fence was up, but the banners were not. When I caught up with Roy, Gerald and Punch I found out why we were apparently behind schedule - two riders had requested practice sessions and so track preparation had to be curtailed until they had finished. In fact, we had to prepare one track for the early birds and then start again on a track for the Elite League clash with Lakeside.
Newcomers, James Wright and Troy Batchelor had asked for 12 o'clock spins, James to try out some adjustments to his bike and Troy to try out a new engine. As it turned out, Troy was held up by a road traffic accident and arrived after 1pm.
While Brian Cox balanced precariously atop a wooden step ladder with soaking mop in one hand, cleaning the electronic scoreboard, we applied water to moisten down the track which was drying out in the breeze and bright sunshine. Rain had been forecast for later in the day so we had to balance the need for some moisture to help James and Troy, and prevent a dust bowl to boot, and an awareness that God might take over watering duties later on.
In Poland we are led to believe that riders can practice as and when they like but that's not the case in Britain. A combination of dual usage stadia (speedway and greyhounds) and the very different nature of the tracks over here mean that practice is limited. We do have the training track but both lads really needed to test technique and equipment on the main track.
James put in a series of quick looking laps before disappearing back into the pits. He's a very personable young man and chats away about what he's testing and how he's getting used to the track here at the Abbey. We've had a good working relationship with his mechanic since the first behind closed doors session in March when he loaned me a screwdriver (from this you'll gather that most mechanics glare at you for just looking let alone allowing you to borrow equipment).
We saw Andrew Moore using the facility of early practice sessions last year and he nearly always turned in excellent performances during the subsequent meetings. Andrew also benefited from having someone of the caliber of Leigh Adams around to help and guide him ... and sure enough, Leigh pitches up early in the expectation of helping both James and Troy, the latter who is still stuck in traffic miles from the stadium.
There were some, and the blog certainly wasn't amongst them, who have suggested that perhaps the Robins had made a mistake in investing so much of their precious 42 point whatever average in signing Leigh. Yes, he's got an average of over 10 (it's over 11 so far this season) but he adds so much more to the team than just those 10 points. He's a more than effective tactical sub, capable of 6 point returns if the Robins should need him (he managed that in the defeat at Lakeside last week that started out as a landslide but ended up so much closer than anyone had dared imagine) and he can team ride beautifully. The texter on the excellent Speedway Updates commented that he "shepherded" a partner to a 5 - 1 and we've already seen him see off a number of top riders at Blunsdon, not through sheer speed but by his ability to be able to block and anticipate.
In a sport where I've seen too many number ones dump the clutch and disappear into the distance, it's refreshing to see someone with so much skill out on the track team riding a less experienced partner to victory.
And then there's Leigh's captaincy and leadership. He's there for all the team and sees his job as the most experienced in the team as one of great responsibility. He's at the pit gate encouraging others before each race; he's out between races offering guidance on track conditions; and he's here early to work with James.
Leigh inspects some new handlebars that James has got. He discusses the minutia of balance and body position on the bike, and you know that he's right on the ball when he explains that by shaving about 6mm of each end of the new bars, James would feel even more comfortable.
But time is pressing on and when need to start working the track up ready for the evening's meeting, and Troy is still held up. We would like to have spent the last two hours watering and then beginning to work up some dirt but we can't until the practice is finished. It's a frustrating time for us all - we want to give Troy as much time as possible but if we don't get started soon then we'll have a very un-Blunsdon like track for the meeting.
After Troy has finished we race out onto the track. The white line needs cleaning, all the banners have on the air fence have to be put up, excess shale kicked up on the kick boards and air fence has to be put back mid track, significant amount of grading and tyre packing has to be completed and then the moisture content of the track and the heavy clouds looming needs to be calculated.
Gerald rips the exits of turns 2 and 4 for the first time this season - we've not had to before because the track has been giving so much grip right across the width - but today the track is dry and hard. Terry Russell is bemused that we should be putting more water on the track as the rain clouds gather and the first drops hit the ground. But we have to get water into the track or we'll have a dust bowl if the rain passes us by (as it does).
Punch stands on the ripper as Gerald moves back and forth - the added weight pushed the spikes into the shale and produces some really deep lose stuff. This is bone dry and will be wetted and then packed down with tractor tyres. This should give the riders a real hand full of grip as they leave the gates.
Adam and I begin to put the banners up. It's not that easy. For a start, the new banners this year are longer than ones from the previous season and we can't afford to have overlaps flapping in the breeze - referees and riders don't like the distraction. Also, we have a list of current sponsors whose banners must be seen in the most prominent places, and where there are two banners from the same sponsor, they must not appear on the same corner. Then there are the banners that have been damaged by flying Polish riders (Mr Sucheki) a\nd by the very heavy shale track we had last week. Getting everyone of these factors right is a little like playing with one of those puzzles where, if you move one piece, everything else moves out of place.
We are finding more and more uses for Robin (our newly acquired Land Rover) and I'm beginning to be able to predict which gear I am likely to find when I engage the gear box - there are certainly fewer unexpected forays into reverse this week!
And so the the meeting. On a track which one Swindon rider thought favoured Lakeside more than the Robins (remember that Gerald also prepares the Lakeside track at Purfleet), have a cracking meeting. It was so much drier this week that we actually only had to change two banners in the whole meeting. Last week we could have changed everyone after just one lap, so plastered in wet shale were they.
I have championed the cause of the humble cable tie before now, but I must now add another essential piece of equipment to the list - a short length of scaffolding pole. When Ernie Poole shouted to me mid meeting, "Graham, have we got a spare pole?" I was tempted to respond, "Not this year but we had three last year," but decided better of it. Seb Alden had crashed in his last ride and had bent his handlebars. With the scaffold pole inserted over one side of the bars, me hanging on to the other and his mechanic sitting on the saddle we straightened out the bars and he was off. So much more approachable and confident than when he was last here, he sought me out after to thank me for my help - and that's really appreciated, I can tell you.
The referee this week, Mr Durno, got through the match with almost indecent haste, no doubt with an eye on the weather. So fast was he on the two minute warning that the claxon was going off as the previous race riders were still making their way back to the pits.
But we finished reasonably early and had time to allow some more riders, non Swindon ones this time, to practice afterwards. As soon as they had finished we set to with the new end of meeting regime. With a number of new labour intensive tasks to be completed, we all got in a bit of state last week. This week it all worked much better, helped by the steady rainfall which was slowly soaking us.
By the time that I'd got around to collecting the air pumps most of the staff had already gone home but Keith Johnson and his merry band from turns 1 and 2 were still there, laughing and joking. I've picked out young Jamie Wilshire for particular comment this week. Jamie joined the track team at the start of the season and, like all the other new guys, works so hard and never complains. For some reason he copped a nickname that has the rest of the lads in fits of laughter, but I was so tired by this stage that I promptly forgot what it was. Jamie is one of the essential behind the scenes people who make our sport work - he gives freely of his time and effort without thought for recompense - just as well, cos there isn't any of that around.
And so to the end of a very long day. It's closing in one 10.45 when I take these photographs of a still illuminated but largely empty stadium. Punch and Adam have jet washed the worst of the slime off the boards and fences, Gerald has bladed the track back into shape and then the surface has been packed down firmly to protect it from all that the weather can throw at it for the next 7 days.
It's been a good day, one that has us feeling more positive than last week. But I've not slept for 21 hours and the drive back is a battle of concentration over tiredness.
The next posting will be an update on the EdinBlog from Ian Hawkins - watch out for that on Sunday morning (after The Archers!)
