Swindon V Poole Elite Shield 1st Leg. 27/3/14

[SteveLyric2]

Thank u & apologies to you all especially Blueboy for coming across as a prat.

He can't help it!!!

 

Good luck with the operation!

[ghcooke]

For the record, I live in North Wiltshire and we have had two massive showers (hailstones included) since 4pm. Not sure what the weather is doing in Swindon but even right now, the skies are leaden.

 

Perhaps Cookie can come on here and give a track curator's perspective. He is usually very informative.

Ok, time to put the head above the parapet and see what flack is coming our way.

 

The decision to call off the Elite Shield fixture on Thursday was not an easy one and I know that the promotion spent a long time anguishing over the call and when best to make it.

 

So what were the factors as far as I could see, and I am not part of the decision making group.

 

First of all, the track was very wet. Rainfall on Wednesday and overnight had left it wet through. There was not much standing water but the whole top surface was sodden. I have no doubt that we could have salvaged that by opening up the track during the day and allowing the wind and sunshine in to the top surface and then packing it down later in the afternoon. There would have been no point in rolling it and trying to push the water out - that would have resulted in a clay like bog.

 

However, at about the time when we would have needed the surface open and drying, the weather forecasts suggested rainfall. In fact all of the weather services, including the local BBC, suggested that while the morning would be dry and overcast, the rain would start at 1pm and then continue through until at least 7pm with a particularly heavy shower between 4 and 5. If we had opened up the track during the morning the strength of rain that was forecast would have washed all the clay content out of the track and left us with major problems for weeks to come.

 

As it was, the rain didn't arrive at 1pm and for some periods of the afternoon it was quite sunny and pleasant. However, the hail shower and then the flurry of snow at 2.30pm, followed by a torrential downpour and more rain later in the afternoon and then a bitterly cold evening, meant the forecasters got it more or less right.

 

The track is also very "immature". Strange way to describe it, but it seems to fit the bill. There has been no racing, other than last week's practice session, on the track since the sodden ELRC back in October. There is no doubting that racing on a track actually improves it. The spinning wheels turn over the material and get air into it beautifully and then we are able to blade and grade it back into shape with ease. During the winter the track settles and compacts down naturally. Usually frost would get into the base and then expand and break it up a little before allowing it to naturally find its own level but we have not had a deep frost over the winter. Instead we have had record amounts of rainfall, a rainfall which has soaked the base of the track, loosening it and making it more susceptible to damage. The main straight has been sodden all through the winter and receives precious little drying sunlight, being under the lee of the main grandstand. It is still very wet, with water from the surrounding track still running down onto it. Instead of this water running away through the top surface and on top of a hard base, it is filtering down into the track base and weakening it.

 

The next consideration was the temperature in the evening. As the temperature falls so any moisture in the track is drawn to the surface. This gives the "icy" look to a track. Very quickly, a loose track will become an impossibly deep and muddy one, and we know what racing in wet deep stuff can be like (cast minds back to the ELRC).

 

And it was the first match of what will be a very important season for the club, the last at the old Abbey, before the move to a new stadium and track. We wanted the opening meeting to be a cracker and not a mud fest in front of a few hundred frozen individuals. A good week's weather and we should be able to put together a cracker for the first league match of the 2014 season against Coventry.

 

Early calls offs also mean: that riders can be prevented from making unnecessary journeys (apparently Peter Kildemand was on his way to Bilund Airport in Denmark when the call came through) at unnecessary cost; the other promotion can be told well in advance, so they can make arrangements; press and the media can be informed so that fans don't start making journeys only to arrive at a closed stadium; track staff, some of whom travel considerable distances to be on duty (two come from Basingstoke each week) can be informed in good time; and the track staff can get on with necessary work without endangering the track and causing damage which might take weeks to repair.

 

I must emphasis that these are only my own thoughts and not those of the promotion at Swindon, but I think we all agreed, especially when it actually started to snow on Thursday afternoon, that the correct decision had been made. I know many were disappointed, having waited throughout the winter for some track action, but I believe we'll all benefit in the course of time.

 

The blog, with photographic evidence will be up late on tomorrow afternoon (Sunday).

[A ORLOV]

Thanks Graham.

[theblueboy]

Thank u & apologies to you all especially Blueboy for coming across as a prat.

 

CR

 

Apology accepted. If you want to engage me in a pint that is fine. I have no issue with that. Let me know when you are available.

 

Lots of love

 

theblueboy

[packerman]

Thanks for the info Graham. As a Poole fan it is really enlightening ready your blog about track prep at Blunsdon and all the work you guys do. Keep up he good work