When Clerk of the Course Mick Hunt tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Are you ready for a surprise?" my heart sank. Had the referee found something seriously amiss with the air fence? Had a generator broken down? With an hour to go to tapes up against Coventry all I needed was a surprise like that. "You need to stay calm," Mick continued, "because I've just seen the guest list for this meeting and amongst the names there is 'Mr Rune Holta plus two mechanics!'"
Everyone who reads the blog will know that I am a huge fan of Rune Holta but, after two years of trying to get him to come to Blunsdon, I'd almost given up hope ... but more of that later.
Hot and humid. Blunsdon was distinctly sticky first thing on Thursday so water had been applied on a regular basis from the early hours to try and counter the effects of what looked like being a scorchingly hot day. Our enduring problem is getting water down into the base so we changed our approach this week. Rather than using a spray to fan out water across the track we used a horizontal bar, the width of the water tanker, and blasted water at quite high pressure down through a series of small holes drilled in the bar straight down into the track. Three circulations of the track and the whole surface glistened with moisture. At least this way we avoided any chance of evaporation from the surface while getting more water down into the hard base.
You can soak a track completely but if all that water is either evaporated away under a hot sun or simply sits in the surface of the track then you get a muddy and almost unraceable surface for the first race of the night. This will get shot up wide and plaster the air fence, where it will be of no use to man nor beast. All subsequent races will take place on a dry under surface and will result in clouds of dust and a track then slicker than the M4.
As we go through our normal cycle of work, the sun breaks through the light cloud cover and it's time for the factor 50 sun cream. There are those who can cope with the sun, removing layers, in some cases too many layers, to soak up the rays and top up tans. Me? I can get a brilliant sun tan in 5 minutes under a moderate sun. Trouble is, after 6 minutes I am burning, so as soon as the temperature rises and the sun comes out, I don a full set of overalls, gloves, hat and anything else that is exposed to the sun is layered with Factor 50.
The old place looks good, especially the centre green. We've had a bit of help today with the mowing and it shows what can be done when you get the right equipment to do a job.
By mid morning we are ahead of schedule with the air fence and other elements of preparation. While Ron and Punch work on the track, Roy, Mick and Arron clean banners, kickboards and bits of the air fence. Mark Price and I hook up the catch netting and the fence and then clear the area immediately behind the chain fence of all pieces of brick and concrete. A referee earlier in the season had been most insistent that the area between the chain fence and the dog racing rail be clear of any pieces of concrete and that all lighting posts etc. be fronted up with a car tyre. It makes the place look neater but it does take an hour and no one else has even mentioned it in subsequent meetings. However, we don't want to take any chances.
At the back of the pits, Rosco and Punch are tidying up. We've been loaned another skip for a coup,e of hours so they are removing anything that we haven't used recently and generally tarting up the old place.
The main talking point is the new delivery of shale that has arrived. It is much redder than the stuff we've been using and certainly appears to have a higher clay content throughout. This means that the particles of shale bind together much better and should help us to achieve a much grippier racing surface. It's a large load, several tons, but nowhere near the 2,600 tons that is being deposited at the Millennium Stadium in preparation for the GP this weekend.
The afternoon goes to plan until Mick pulls me over and dispenses the news that Rune and Co. are on their way. The first indication that we have extra guest is the appearance of Ashley Holloway, son of ex Robin Malcolm, and now engine tuner to the new sensation of World speedway, Emil Sayfutdinov. Ashley cannot resist the chance to go and have a look at some of the engines on display and is soon talking tuning matters with Simon Stead's pit crew.
Word spreads through the pit area quickly that Rune has arrived. He made a very positive impression on all the Swindon track staff who were in attendance at last year's British GP with his friendly and approachable manner.
This is his first visit to Swindon and only his second visit to an Elite League track (apparently he watched a match at Poole some time ago). It is a real pleasure to chat to him again, made even more so by the presence of his two mechanics Michal Ciurzynski and Krzysztof Nyga, who I spent time with last year at Cardiff and previously at Vetlanda.
Edwin Hutchison has his photograph taken with Rune before turning the blog's camera on me. Everyone is in a great state of good humour. Gary Patchett talks with Rune about Swindon and the Blunsdon Blog and Rune later admits that he signed so many autographs without ever thinking that any of them could be contracts!
He likes the Swindon track. "It's very much like some of the older Swedish tracks. I love places like this because you can really get up to great speed and with the banking I think you could pick and choose your ideal line wherever you go."
We are joined out on the track by Chris Harris and Seba Ulamek. Seba rode for the Robins a couple of years ago and is still a very welcome guest. Always immaculately turned out, Seba chats with all his old friends, especially Flo (Karen, our Sports therapist), whose legs turn to jelly when he smiles at her.
Out in the pit car park, special room has been made for the vans of Team Holta Racing, Emil and Seba - let's face it, there must be thousands of pounds worth of highly engineered equipment in each of them and parking them outside is never considered.
As I make my way up to the end of the car park I am met by Michal and Krzysztof. "Where is your Holta hat?" asks Michal. I admit that I haven't got it with me. He disappears and returns with a brand new 09 one. They are a great pair, driving the Holta van around Europe from meeting to meeting. After the GP they face a massive 2,600km drive to get the kit back to Northern Sweden in time for Rune's next Swedish Elit fixture at Valsarna.
One of our juniors is having trouble starting up his bike so, as we walk back to the track, Krzysztof stops and gives some advice and the bike coughs into life.
Further back behind number 96 Billy (Marcin) Mroz is warming up one of Leigh's bikes on a stand. The ground vibrates.
It's all a bit hectic, especially since another guest tonight is Gerald Richter. The track staff have had a whip round and raised £100 for the old chap. I try to round up people for a proper presentation on the Gift Vouchers but the pit area is now filled with track staff, riders, mechanics, guests, members of the public etc.
Out on the track Punch is putting down the last of the water. The track is drying quickly but we have to be careful with this last watering. While the sun is up the track will dry but as soon as it starts to go down, and the temperature starts to fall, the moisture in the track will rise to the surface and we could end up with a track which is too wet to race properly on.
I hurry back to Number 96 to get my Nurden sponsored overalls on and find Coventry boss Colin Pratt talking with Punch. They've been friends for a long time and it's good to get away from all the hustle and bustle for a quiet 5 minutes.
Back in the pits another old friend has appeared - Brian Karger. Ever smiling, he grins and says, "I know what you are going to say! Yes I did ride and yes, I am retiring again." This goes back to conversations that we had years ago when he made a comeback for the Malcolm Holloway Testimonial meeting. He assured me then that, even though he was staggeringly quick then, he would not be riding again. Suffice to say, at his next appearance at Blunsdon he was out on a bike again and now this year he's top scored for Brovst in a Danish League meeting. He and Rune have ridden together many times in Denmark and are soon swapping stories of daring do.
Rune is asked if he will go out onto the centre green to talk to Clive Fisher and the crowd. I take him out and we chat about his leaving Vetlanda and joining Indianera (the Kumla club). "I had been at Vetlanda for a long time and it was time for a new challenge. I loved it at Vetlanda but the new club are great." We agree that the next time I visit Sweden I must get along to a meeting.
He is genuinely taken aback by the response that he gets form the Blunsdon faithful. "I have never been here and yet they welcome me so much. Really nice."
It's been a brilliant end to the day for me. The result? Oh, Swindon win comfortably with Zagar and Adams again topping the score charts.
But, it's time to pack the track up, get back home for a few hours kip and then make the early morning motorway drive down to Cardiff for the "Big One".
