British GP Practice Day. Our first glimpse at the 2009 Millennium track and a chance to meet up with old friends. The Blunsdon Blog brings you the hidden side of GP Practice Day. Now complete!
29th June
Welcome to Blunsdon, Mr Holta! Thursday night at Blunsdon and some of the Cardiff bound riders stop off to take in an Elite League meeting including Rune. It doesn't get much better than that!
29th June
What a weekend. Thursday at Blunsdon and the arrival of a special guest, Friday at the Millennium Stadium for practice and then Saturday and the Grand Prix and being stuck in the middle of two fighting stars. The blog is on its way, full of photographs and background material.
26th June
It's Cardiff. Just back from practice at the Millennium Stadium. The track is sensational - no rutting up or breaking up of the surface after an exhausting 2 hours practice session. Jason Crump was delighted with the track and Rune was surprised at how smooth the surface was. More about the Cardiff GP, practice and the Swindon v. Coventry match in a special blog early next week including the first ever visit to Blunsdon of Rune Holta and his team and the brilliant reception they were given. The Blog's tips for the GP? Crumpie looked very fast and Sayfutdinov attacked the track with typical gusto. My 20p. will be on Jason for a second successive year!
Ready, Steady ... GO! 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.
16th June
An Inspector Calls. More speedway-related ramblings from Armadale for your edification. Correspondent Ian Hawkins treats us to a double serving of his latest Edinblog.
15th June
Gerald Richter. We learned last week that Gerald had left the club. All those working behind the scenes were shocked, not in the least those of us who have worked with him for many years.
13th June
GP programme race sheet for the 2009 Danish Grand Prix is now available. Click on the GP Results button on the left to access the Speedway GP scorechart menu. The scorechart is available in both xls and pdf formats.
Premature Dementia. We prepare the Blunsdon strip for the return match of the Elite League fixture against Ipswich, Punch is at the heart of a "Who dunnit" and I hold my hands up and admit a "senior moment" as I completely muck up references to my old mate, Alan DaVinci Tarrant.
3rd June
Caption Contest. Time to get the creative juices flowing and come up with the most amusing rejoinders.
2nd June
Edinburgh's meeting itself against Glasgow in the Premier Trophy was close fought with Shane Parker and guest who you might just have heard of, Travis McGowan looking invincible early on.
31st May
Man on a Mission. The Robins unveil new signing Matej Zagar on the day that our friends from Lakeside put in an appearance and those new pits get a final brush of paint to finish them off.
29th May
GP programme race sheet for the 2009 Swedish Grand Prix is now available. Click on the GP Results button on the left to access the Speedway GP scorechart menu. The scorechart is available in both xls and pdf formats.
25th May
The morning after the night before. Once again the great British weather plays havoc with Ian and the Edinburgh team's efforts to get a match on. It's a glamorous sport when it's wet!
23rd May
Certainly not Concrete for Breakfast. Cory Gathercole serves up a wonder performance as the Robins tgake on Wolverhampton and the new pits get their first real test.
20th May
The Lakeside Log. Punch and I have been a short working holiday, down to Lakeside to help out in preparation of the Sky meeting against Coventry. So, since I can't call it The Blunsdon Blog, I give you the first Lakeside Log. Revised version with correct names!
16th May
Rainy days and Thursdays ... The lyrics talk about "rainy days ... get you down" and so it is with us here at a very wet and miserable Blunsdon. For the second time in a month we've had a meeting called off with everything set up and ready to go ... and once again I had to make a journey home in soaking wet clothes fending off the onset of yet another cold.
13th May
The swallows have returned to Armadale Stadium and the local cats are running about with baby rabbits in their jaws signifying that the rain is about to get warmer.
12th May
"We're on our way to Wembley ..." Sorry to get your hopes up, but speedway, despite what Alex Ferguson might think, is not on its way back there ... but Shrewsbury are!! But back to speedway. An old friend returns to track action on the continent, we have to cope without Gerald and there's rain in the air despite forecasts to the contrary for the clash with Poole. Sounds a bit like an episode from The Archers. Dum de dum de dum de dum, Dum de dum de dum dum ...
10th May
GP result sheets for the 2009 European Grand Prix is now available in both Excel and PDF formats. Holta misses out on semi final place on countback - blast!
8th May
GP programme race sheet for the 2009 European Grand Prix is now available. Click on the GP Results button on the left to access the Speedway GP scorechart menu. The scorechart is available in both xls and pdf formats.
6th May
A Day in the Life (part 2). Taken from pieces that I contribute to the Robins programe, this is the 2nd part of the trilogy covering a normal (if anything can called normal at Blunsdon) Thursday.
3rd May
Get well soon mate! We prepare for the clash with Belle Vue without our beloved track curator, Gerald, who is not too well at the moment. Ronnie and Punch go all gooey over a piece of antique equipment and the good Lord waters the track for us throughout the day.
29th April
The Little B.......ds. In the week when we saw the very best of Premier League (and some would say speedway in general) in the marvellous Somerset v Kings Lynn match, our Scottish correspondent Ian Hawkins brings us news of great success on the track but mindless vandalism at Armadale of it.
28th April
The lack of activity at Blunsdon since the Sky meeting has meant that there has been a dearth of writing. In order to fill the gap, here is the first part of a trilogy of pieces written for the Swindon programme this year on life at Blunsdon. Click here
24th April
The Czech GP draw is now available through this link or via the GP results button on the left of the screen. The draw is available in either Excel or pdf formats. For those desperate to know, Leigh Adams will meet Gollob, Ulamek and Pedersen in the first heat while Rune Holta lines up alongside Scott Nicholls, Hans Andersen and Greg Walasek in heat 4.
23rd April
GP draw. The decision to leave the draw for the GPs this year up until after practice on the day before means that publications such as Speedway Star will be unable to print out a full racecard. Worry not .. the blog will publish the full race card, complete with names, on Friday nigth in both an Excel format (so you can fill it in on a lap top as you watch and see how each rider is doing progressively) and in PDF format so you can print out a copy and fill it in normally.
For all such racecards please click on the GP results button on the left of the screen.
22nd April
It's the pits. Lots of new work around the track on a Monday with Sky. Under a beautiful sun there are surprises for everyone as a day of working with Sky pans out.
19th April
A touch of the wet stuff. Despite dire weather forecasts we go about our business until it all gets too silly and the match is called off at 4.30pm. It's our first rain off for almost a year and while the "suits" meet up and talk about "important matters" in the dry, the track staff get a real drenching taking it all down and packing it all up. Ah well!
16th April
Red lights out in Edinburgh. Our Scottish correspondent Ian Hawkins keeps us up to date with the latest from Armadale and a visit to a marvellous speedway related museum.
13th April
Up to my knees. Under leaden skies, and with rain in the air, we work with the elements to put on a show against the Bees of Coventry.
8th April
Exotic Refeering and some decent weather at Armadale. Ian keeps us up to date with the background news at Edinburgh.
6th April
Deflated. After the horrendous accident last week in the match against Wolves we spend most of the morning inspecting and carrying out improvements to the safety fence before preparing for the clash with Eastbourne. It's a long, hard day.
30th March
Soggy Blog. Ian incurs the wrath of Jupiter Pluvius by daring to mention sunshine and clear skies in a previous blog. The weather wreaks its revenge on Armadale and our Scottish correspondent!
28th March
Our Saviour. Gavin, from Janair, spends a morning working with us to help cure the problems with the air fence. Later on Freddie Lindgren, Ryan Fisher and Chris Kerr sample the results of our day's work. Thank God no one was badly injured.
25th March
The Return of Edinblog. After a winter of celebrations at their brilliant successes last season, Edinburgh start 2009 with an uncertain future. Ian Hawkins brings us up to date with pre season news from Armadale.
22nd March
Lejonen. It's the second meeting of the year and one that I've been looking forward to for some time. Our friends from Gislaved in Sweden visit Blunsdon. I hope we can repay the considerable kindness that they afforded us when we visited 18 months ago.
16th March
Happy Birthday. The season opener is the biggest meeting of the season at Swindon (unless, of course, Rune Holta should make an appearance later on in the year). In front of a massive crowd we have good racing and the odd heart stopping moment.
13th March
"Practice makes Perfect." Photographs taken of yesterday's Practice session with the Robins, minus the Visa troubled Batch in action ... and a surprise but very welcome visitation form a real legend of the shale.
9th March
"Me and my shadow." It's a hectic Saturday morning session as we get the fence out and up - well, sort of up. Another brilliant turn out makes a difficult job less difficult and infinitely more fun!
6th March 2009
Just one week to go before the bikes take to the track and we're still battling with the air fence. In "The Peace before the Storm" we cover the last full Thursday's work before the start of the season at Swindon.
4th March 2009
"A Winter's Tale - Act 1." Air bags full of wet slime, disappearing diggers (not Australians) and a flood. It's all in a winter's work at Swindon. The drama continues.
Important information about the Blunsdon Blog. Click here.
Started in 2006 as a way on keeping Swindon fans up to date with track work over the closed season, the Blunsdon Blog is up and running again after a 5 month break.
From those first few blogs, with readerships counted in terms of 10's, it has increased its readership to a level of 200,000 visitors in 2008.
It has tried to retain its aims: to reflect work done behind the scenes at a speedway track; to avoid reporting actual racing (that's done far better elsewhere), and to entertain.
The Blunsdon Blog ...
will provide you with an insight into the all year round work that goes on behind the scenes at a speedway track near you.
Each week, we'll be updating these pages with the latest developments at the track.
The Blunsdon Blog ...
would like to thank Tattinger Marsh Limited of Cirencester and Marlborough for continuing to allow us to use a small amount of their web space for the Blog.
We would also respectfully point out that the views of contributors to this site and, or the Blog, are definitely not those of the promoters or management of Swindon Speedway.
