This blog will take in the events of last week and this. It's been a traumatic time here at Swindon with the announcement of the departure of Gerald Richter but the mood was brightened this last Thursday by the brilliant maximum scored by Simon Stead in the fixture against Peterborough at the Abbey. It's not been a comfortable time for Simon since his move to Swindon over the winter but it all clicked on Thursday. Good starts and then full blast mid to high track blasts meant that the most his opponents glimpsed of him was his back wheel disappearing into the distance. As he walked back to the pits with the Man of the Match award his relief was palpable. Ever likeable and approachable, we were all delighted for the young Yorkshireman.
But let's move back a week to the events of the 12th June.
I had already spoken with Gerald on the evening before so already felt a bit down when I pitched up for work. Word spread quickly amongst the day track staff but we all decided that what Gerald would want was for us all to do our job to the best of our abilities, in the manner that he had showed us over the years.
Heavy rain in the previous 24 hours had coursed across the track bring ing quite a lot of sand with it. But the morning was brilliantly clear.
The first majo0r task now is to remove all of the standing water that fills up in the deflated air bags. Simply turning on the air pumps and inflating the fence would push the water off quickly enough but it doesn't drain evenly across the track and gives us inconsistently dampened areas.
With the water tanker in suction mode, Punch and I take it in turns to pump out the quite substantial amounts of water from all 44 air bags. This week there is so much that we actually fill up the tanker and have to repair to the centre green to vent off some of it before we can finish the job. 90 minutes later and we are finished and it's time for a cup of tea. We are delighted to find that Gerald has appeared to bid a fond farewell to us. The mood lightens significantly and soon the old banter is flowing, along with the laughter. There is no doubt that we were a good, tight knit group.
Gerald bids us farewell and we start again. The fence has to be pinned up and the catch netting hung, but Mark Price and I are confident that we are ahead of schedule until Ronnie drops the bombshell that Paul Hurry, who will be making his debut tonight for the Robins wants to have a practice session. Suddenly we have to get the fence up, the rubber kickboards back in place and the gate panel ready - no lunch today then!
There's always an excitement when a new rider joins your team, tinged with a little bit of sadness at Stoj's departure. Paul seems a nice bloke - I know that Gerald speaks highly of him through their years of working at Arena Essex together.
Surprisingly, Paul is right on time. Most riders who request a practice session are usually late so to find one actually waiting for us is a real bonus.
After a few exploratory laps Paul returns to the pits. "This is a track where you need all the horsepower that you can muster and I need to find the right set up." He takes a little time to speak to me about the problems that a riders faces when he comes to a track like Swindon. "You've got to get the right set up here or you're dead. You need immediate power to get out of the gate but you can't have too much or you'll lose the top end grunt that you need to fire you down those long straights. And the corners demand power. It's all about compromise - the best compromise allied to a great engine and you're well on your way."
I leave the team to carry on their work, making alterations. After each change Paul comes out for a few laps before it's back to the pits for more changes.
We are a little concerned about how fast the surface is drying out - there is dust everywhere and so it is with relief that we hear that Paul feels he's done enough.
While he chats with Ronnie, we set to getting some more water into the surface and bringing back the dirt that has found its way out to the fence.
The peace and calm is shattered soon after when Bob Crowther (the chap who services and maintains the air pumps) turns up on his wonderfully restored Triumph Triton. It roars in a manner only vintage British bikes can.
We get the banners up and add a lot of new material to the track, not only top dressing the bends but adding lots of new material on the insides of the bends.
It's now late afternoon and the Lakeside lads are arriving. Amongst them is our good friend Lee Richardson. Lee is sponsored by Malmesbury businessman Andy Nurden and is a firm friend here at The Abbey.
Neil Wise (Tattinger Marsh, who sponsor the Blog) and Phil Rice soon make an appearance and we have the original Blunsdon Bloggers together. Lee helped us organise our trip to Sweden in 2007 so it's good to be able to get together as a group again.
We were disturbed a little to find that Lee hadn't been penciled in as a reserve at Cardiff for the GP but he told us that he had a World Championship qualifier the day after so he'd willingly passed the invite so that Simon Stead could compete as reserve for the British GP. Lee's been going brilliantly in Sweden and Poland. Last year he was the top Brit in England, Sweden and Poland and it's a shame that he often gets a little overlooked when people start talking about top British riders. We're more than happy with the form that Elit Vetlanda have ben showing this season - storming away with the league! Lee tells us about how much Jason Crump appears to be missing British racing - maximums in Sweden almost at will and a chance to spend much more time with his young family.
Swindon compete against Lakeside without Matej Zagar. Matej's been called back to ride in a re-arranged Polish fixture (which is again rained off, but too late for him to get to Swindon). The Robins have to use young Richard Sweetman in his place and are clearly under strength. In fact, Swindon are fined £300 for tracking an under strength team, according to the referee's sheet. In a close match, the visitors triumph and our unbeaten home record goes. None of us are happy that a comment in the Speedway Star and the local paper suggests that it is the "backroom staff" who are apparently responsible. I quote: "Our backroon staff came up with a track surface that helped them and not us ..." This is the classic, if the team wins it's because the riders rode well; if they lose it's because the track was wrong! Someone mentions the fact that there were 14 overtaking moves by Lakeside against just 3 by Swindon (two by Adams and one by Sweetman). Seems as if someone should wake up and smell some coffee.
And so we move inexorably along by one week. In stark contrast to last week, we have heavy dark clouds overhead and a dry track. There's been no rain this week to speak of so the fences can be inflated straight away. This is just as well because we are entering holiday times and we know that we are going to be short staffed today.
Not a lot of grime got onto the banners last week so the cleaning is done quickly and the banners organised into their positions and folded. Last week the mid day practice session meant that the banners were out for too long on the centre green and ended up being blown to all corners of the stadium. Ask Mark Price about how much fun it is to chase banner the entire length of the stadium and then try to fold it up in a gale force wind.
While everyone else goes about their work, I spend a quiet hour listening to Radio 4 while hanging the catch netting and hooking up the air fences all around the track. I'm getting to rely on Mark Price more and more - he seems to be able to anticipate what needs doing and get it done.
A lot of water is put down on the track throughout the morning.
After lunch Adam and Arron engage in a bit of housekeeping, removing unsightly weeds from the gravel drains on turns 4 and 1 and 2. While Mark and I distribute rubber kickboards and banners around the circuit a group of cars from the local Renault dealership make their way out onto the centre green. Following close on their heels are the team from Swindon Web, led by Kirsty Heber-Smith. They set up a chair called "The Hot Seat" and wait for the interviewee to arrive. This session it's Cory Gathercole. Cory reads through the scripted questions before the grilling begins.
We leave him to his interview and go off to check petrol in the pumps.
The kickboards and banners take another hour or so, broken up when I have to drive the dreaded JCB for Punch as he spreads more shale on the track. It is the most evil machine that I've ever driven. A simply change of direction means pulling with all my meagre might on the wheel while stopping it is a case of pressing down on the brake pedal until the whole thing lurches left and stop.
By 4pm we are almost ready. At least, my bit with the fences is ready - there's still a lot of track work going on as Ronnie and Punch put more and more new shale down, not just on the insides but all the way round.
As they work I get a chance to chat with Ales Dryml. Ales doesn't really fit the bill of a hard nosed, devil make care speedway rider. He is quiet, thoughtful and speaks excellent English. We chat about his topsy turvy season (starting at Peterborough then on to Poole and now back to Peterborough).
It's now that time when I fret about what needs to be done. I'm pretty sure that we've covered all the bases but you never can be sure.
The away pits are filling up with bikes from Messrs, Bjerre, Korneliussen and Iversen. Tonight's visitors are the 6 Danes and a Czech, but there are only 4 Danes here. It soon becomes evident that they are going to be short of two riders, Henning Bager and Claus Vissing, both stuck in dreadful traffic on the M25 and M4. It's this traffic that is also holding up track staff member Derek Hayward. Further news comes through that the DaVinci boys wont be here tonight - Dave is having an operation while Alan is not feeling too good. When I get a text from Keith Johnson, who heads up the turns 1 and 2 team, that he is ill and wont be here I know that we're in for an interesting evening. It's not helped by the fact that I have contrived to leave my Nurden overalls at home and so will have to limit the time that I spend on the centre green during the meeting.
In the end we have a quiet evening. Mark Price takes over the walkie talkie on turn 1. We have four radios - Mike Hunt and Andy Reynolds (Clerk of Course and Assistant CoC) have two, Mark has one and I have the 4th. This has been great development because it means that we can keep everyone in the loop when changes are made. It also means that I don't have to run the length of the track whenever someone disappears into the air fence on turns 1 and 2. This week only one rider gets close to the fence but there is no damage.
The Robins race to a massive win, while Peterborough cop a hefty fin for being two riders short at the start of the meeting. Referee Graham Flint declares that he is entirely satisfied with all that we've done and says he can't fault track prep or the safety arrangements - job done.
It's late when we finish putting everything away, and I am indebted to the loyal team who stay well beyond the normal finishing time, especially when we nearly have to cope without the pickup, which steadfastly refuses to start. Eventually Adam coaxes it into life but it's a close run thing.
As Punch and I lock up at 11.20pm we reflect on a surprisingly good day, but it's best to leave the last word to a delighted Simon Stead. Well done Simon!
