There are times when it is good to be a completely independent web site with no attachment to the promotion at Swindon or anyone else, and this is one of them.
After a very fraught day at the track for the Sky match against Eastbourne I got home at nearly midnight and, unable to sleep, watched some of the Sky broadcast and was a little, how shall we put it, "miffed" at some of the comments from the "experts" about the state of the track and who was responsible for it. I then logged on to the usually excellent "Speedway Updates" web site and found even more criticism of the Blunsdon raceway. Did either party attempt to understand what was happening? Did anyone ask before committing to the air ways or the internet?
So in this blog, let me put a few things straight. First, since Sky meetings run on a Monday (and not our normal race day) we have to work our track preparation around a full greyhound meeting. So, after a whole Sunday morning's work at the track, we all met up at 8.30am (Punch and Gerald had been there since 7.30am) to start a one and half hour shift on the track. We watered and prepared knowing that we would have to leave the track at 10am and not be able to touch it until after 2 o'clock. While we waited, anxiously, out of site behind the pits, the rain clouds gathered overhead. The weather forecast for the afternoon and evening was truly dreadful and when the first clap of thunder roared overhead we were told that no water was to be applied until at least 6pm.
We know from old that Sky must have a meeting to cover and if we had watered and it had then rained then the meeting would have been abandoned. It's a case of dammed it you do and damned if you don't.
When I spoke with one "expert" from Sky he commented that it looked a very slick track. I responded by pointing out that the track would still produce masses of good dirt and that it was packed down to prevent rain damage. And did it rain around noon. The sky darkened and my camera was employing flash for outside photographs, it was that dark!
And so to the meeting. Of course, the track would cut up a little - the expected rain didn't appear and the sun certainly dried out the track in the afternoon. But then the intervention of a Sky producer and the referee in the pits (remember, there are two referees for a live Sky meeting, one in the referee's box and the other to ensure that everything runs to schedule down on the track. The agreement was for a full grade and water after heat 4. So why did the Sky producer and this pits referee suddenly call in the two tractors, both in the middle of their grading, and the water cart, only half way round, after just one lap? The Answer is timing - the adverts had stopped and they needed the next race to start. But the track was only half ready! The resulting race was won by Mr Adams but in the next Edward Kennett came to grief as he hit the dirt that had only been half graded. The result was the main referee called for a full grading. The next races were fine as a consequence - a shame that it took a fall to prompt action!
And then an expert explained to the viewing audience that what was required was the use of the "wonderwheel" and that it would spin to spread the dirt. And the "wonderwheel" came out onto the track but wasn't used because we realised that there was enough dirt anyway and the wheel would only create more. Instead, we used a mesh to spread the dirt, the mesh attached to the wheel. Had the wheel been spinning the mesh would have taken off with disastrous results.
But the racing was good, when there was some - the fact was that, Scott Nicholls apart, the Eastbourne team were simply not at the races, but how anyone could criticise a track that produced Mads Korneliussen and Troy Batchelor's amazing overtaking antics?
One important aspect of the Blog's work is to set the record straight. The fact is that we produced a track as good as the conditions would allow and, in an age where many criticise tracks for their lack of dirt, it's a bit rich to criticise one which has plenty.
Rant over ... back to the blog.
Other than cleaning the air fences on Sunday, we also had to re-arrange all of our machinery and equipment to make room for the Sky vehicles. Two, the main control room vehicle and the generator lorry, were already in place as I pitched up and 8.30am. After unhooking the air fence (we had left it up overnight to help it dry after washing) and the green netting, I put all of the clean banners in the back of Robin (our Land Rover) and made sure that all of the air pumps were out and ready to be connected once the greyhound meeting had ended.
Out on the track itself Gerald applied some water to the surface to try to prevent it drying out and turing to dust during the day.
But the storm clouds were massing and moving our way. We packed down the surface a little to protect it from heavy rain and then had to leave it for a full 4 hours while the dog meeting ran.
Back behind the pits the catering van had arrived together with the lorries with the scaffolding for the camera positions and the small Sky Studio that Messrs Green and Tatum use.
There are always jobs to be done, even when we can't get out on the track. My main task is to fit kick boards (long lengths of thick rubber) to the bottom of the four recently repaired air panels. We already have two complete spare bags out on the centre green but I'm worried that we may need more so Roy Hicks and I set too with cable ties and a drill.
Overhead the rain clouds are so heavy that it feels like dusk and not midday. A sharp downpour sends us scurrying for cover and we partake of an early lunch, not from the Sky catering van but from our own resident gourmet, Punch, whose bacon sandwiches fill a void.
Outside, and enormous double decker mobile restaurant has arrived in the pits. This is used to provide the Sky people with a comfortable meal before transmission. The driver tells me that that the old modified single seater bus that they used to use no longer conforms with the emissions regulations for London. This new leviathan can be manoeuvred into place and then left if it is required for a long shoot. As I take the photograph I am aware that the flash is again being used because it has come over so dark.
The rain starts again, this time really heavy. All is doom and gloom in number 96.
By two o'clock the clouds seem to be parting to the east and the west. I look around for a character of biblical proportions to see who could have parted the clouds thus but only see Clerk of the Course Mike Hunt.
Travis McGowan is the first rider to arrive. Always polite and friendly, he asks about conditions and confirms that he is back to full fitness. Travis has had some stick from certain sections of the crowd recently but he's definitely worth his place in our estimation. Much is made, and quite rightly, of the contribution of Leigh Adams to the team spirit so obvious at Swindon, but Travis is also right in there, encouraging and motivating the others.
Colin Meredith appears with the latest version of his wonder drier. Heat has now been added to sheer brute force and he's anxious to give it a go but the sun is shining now and the track is drying on the surface faster than we would like. It may be alright below the surface but we could really do with getting some water into the surface to stop it breaking up later on. But the clouds are still present and the Sky people are all over us, moving equipment, unraveling miles of cable and setting up cameras. There has to be a meeting tonight so there can be no water applied to the track by us lest the rain return.
Sponsorship is vital to most sports and none more so than speedway. Programme adverts are all very well but the most important adverts are those on the banners. And this being a televised meeting, every sponsor wants his or her 30 seconds of coverage. If you read last week's blog you'll know the problems associated with getting every banner up in the right place, with no close duplications etc. I have spent some time working out the optimum lay out and we put this into place. This includes the positioning of 6 new Hyundai banners on turn 4. One of these banners has been specially coated by Steve Masters (the old Swindon and Eastbourne rider who produces these banners) with a covering that is supposed to repel water. I place it on turn 4 and give all the track staff instructions to leave it in place no matter how dirty it gets so that we can gauge how effective it is.
I use a little time in the mid afternoon lull, as we twiddle our fingers and wait anxiously for a chance to get out on the track and do some meaningful work, to try to capture what a Sky meeting is like behind the scenes. I'm reminded of watching ducks on a pond - smooth and graceful above the surface but all madness and chaos below. Sky's not quite like that but an awful lot goes into getting a Sky meeting on.
The Sky Studio is erected just outside the dog track on turn 4. It is much smaller than you would think and the view that Messrs Green and Tatum get is of a boom camera and a grassy bank.
Back in the pits our old friend Lee Richardson has arrived and is unloading two immaculate looking bikes. The detailing on a modern speedway bike is quite something to behold. Fore example, on the rims of Lee's wheels he has had engraved his sponsors names' and his own. In the event it is a shame that he has a less than satisfactory meeting, the bike pictured above giving up the ghost during his first ride.
Our task of re-fitting kickboards to the spare air panels is now complete and they are stored in the reserve team pits just in case someone decides to do a kamikaze run around the boards and wipes out half a dozen air panels.
While cameramen film cameramen and monitors and lights appear all over the pits I take a chance to chat with Kelvin Tatum. He asks about the track and what we've been able to do to it and also comments on how slick is looks. I point out that it may look slick but the dirt is there and will appear all too soon. We change tack and talk of the recent GP. He, like me, is at a loss to explain why my hero Rune Holta did not build on his first GP win.
Sky put up a lot of cameras for a speedway meeting so it's hardly surprising, given the cost of all this lot, that they want to get a meeting on at all costs. There is a camera on a gantry right on top of the main stand, above the referee's box and then two on the first corner, one on a standard gantry and the other on a huge extendable boom that sits on a lorry parked in the car park.
Another gantry is constructed on turn 3 while a slow motion camera is mounted on the start gate to capture photo finishes.
In addition there are two cameras out on the centre green and two more in the pits, all four of these being portable cameras.
We need to be careful as we move equipment around on the centre green because it is criss crossed with cables leading to microphones and other pieces of expensive looking.
And still the clouds mass and still the rain threatens but does not fall. Gerald rips the starting gates to give that extra grip that the riders like when they leave the tapes. This has to be watered and then packed down lightly.
We can wait no more - the water has to be applied or we will be in danger of coating north Swindon and district with a fine brown dust during the meeting. Without this watering, already far too late to really improve the track drastically, Sky will see one rider briefly and then a huge cloud of dust. We know now that the track will not be as good as last week's surface - it is now a time for all of Gerald's skill and experience to get it as good as we can.
Keith Johnson (i/c turns 1 and 2) chats with Mike Hunt and Lee Richardson. lee has always been so approachable and all of the track staff appreciate his willingness to chat and listen to our views.
The control truck at the back of the pits has now expanded - it almost doubles the space inside - and all is now action.
I take the opportunity to venture further behind the pits and catch a glimpse of the catering van which is handing out very tasty morsels to Sky employees.
But who is piling up his plate at the hatch. I sneak up behind a tractor and zoom in on our esteemed promoter. "Caught you," I proclaim. "Oh bu....er, that will appear on the blog, wont it," Rosco responds. He tries to make out it's healthy meal but that's just trying to change the subject.
Further round I meet up with the fragrant Sara Elgan, next to Suzy Perry my favourite Sky presenter. She is happy to pose for a photograph and then adopts a working pose, microphone at the ready, when I explain that the photographs are really to capture the behind the scenes view of a Sky meeting.
And so to the racing. In front of a very large and loud crowd, we did not see the best racing at Blunsdon this year, but racing of a quality much superior to some of the other offerings from other places. Eastbourne disappoint and the Robins race away. Mads and Troy show that Blunsdon is a real racing track and that it is possible to come from the back while Seb Alden shows just what he is capable of. It is a terrific all round performance. The lack of water on the track meant that the banners didn't get too dirty and the loose material was relatively easy to clear from the bottom of the fences. Had it not been for that moment of panic when the director called in the tractors way too early in the middle of grading and watering we would not have had any accidents. As it was, my prayers were answered and no-one actually went into an air bag or caused any lasting damage.
With no-one wanting an after meeting practice the lads start to clear away as soon as the fireworks go off on the victory parade. By the time that the fireworks end all the banners have been removed and folded, the wooden boards on the greyhound track packed up, the green netting unclipped and the pins removed from the top of the air panels - it's so damn efficient it's almost frightening.
It's still 11.30 before I leave and make my way home, with a sense of immense relief that nothing went wrong.
It's Thursday morning as I write this. Usually I'd be up at the track now but with no meeting I'm taking the day off. We've all put in enough overtime over the last 7 days so I feel no guilt. Time to head off the The Malmesbury Pottery to get some real work done.
