Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2008 10:03:07 GMT
Belle Vue + Scunthorpe 21st March 2008
It was cold bone raw and frozen to the bone. I don’t think anyone would deny that was how it was today. It was cold at Belle Vue and even colder at Scunthorpe in the evening.
But the sun was shining the sky was blue when I got up and it looked as though it might be a nice day. There was a cold wind blowing though when I set off and it was always possible the weather could and would change in an instant.
I set off early to BV as it wasn’t certain if the roads would be packed with people travelling, but there weren’t many vehicles on the road as I crossed the moors.
I nodded to the ‘Jason Mcvoy’ banner that still hangs on the fence, for the first time as I made my way to KL. No doubt he will be watching for me to go by a few more times this year, but my new job could mean I won’t be passing by that way all that much this season.
The gates were open as I arrived so it was straight in and down to the pits to see the new arrivals preparing for the first meeting. They had the barriers well away from the pits but moved them up close before the majority of fans arrived. Indifferent folk looked right through me a nice greeting for the new season. But we won’t be there for long so it doesn’t really matter. It was nice to meet some old friends there who were looking forward to a season of progression in contrast to last years struggle to get off the bottom of the table. I even got an Easter egg from one of these friends of mine, pity I had nothing to offer in return.
I was looking forward to seeing how the Belle Vue team gelled together. The points limit dictated the composition of the team and all the other teams in the Elite League too. So what did we expect to see at Belle Vue today?
We expected that Crump would pick up from where he left and prove once again he was master of the KL track. We expected that Joe Screen would start off well as he always does at the beginning of the season. We expected that Charlie Gjedde would score well. I like Charlie and when it was said he was coming to BV that was satisfactory to me.
I expect great things from Billy Forsberg. I even expect him one day to be world champion. If he should achieve the ultimate prize remains to be seen. The BV promotions job is to do everything they can to bring him along. So that he feels wanted and valued at BV and that he remains loyal to the club and the club reaps the benefits.
Steve Boxhall did well enough for his first meeting proper and he too can benefit from riding with the top three riders. He can learn along with Billy Forsberg and they can grow together. As for the two Poles, there was something I liked about Rajkowski style of riding though he didn’t score after his first race. Jankowski though seemed ill at ease with the track But if we are to have these riders they too will have to be guided through these opening meetings till they get to know what they are supposed to do out there.
I thought the track was in reasonably good condition myself, considering the time of the year, though some who spoke to me felt it was far too slick. I didn’t think so myself but it has to be better prepared to provide the close entertaining racing that will bring the supporters in. Their was a reasonably good crowd for the first meeting and let’s hope they continue to come and watch a team that will eventually gel together and do well throughout the season. I have faith in this team and eventually I feel that faith will be justified.
In the old days we never attached all that much importance to these meetings that we always regarded as ‘challenge matches’. Meetings designed to bring a team together to decide who was better off riding with who etc. The real meetings begin when the league campaign starts. Then all of the riders have to rise to the real challenge and get on with it.
During this season all the lower order riders need to put in solid performances. At the end of the season Jason Crump might well be called back into the Pirates camp. Then BV could be back where they were at the beginning of 2007 without a bone fide number one. Thus it is the job of one and all at BV to make sure that riders develop in a striking manner in order that there is someone to take over from Crump. We need to be developing a number one from the riders we have at our disposal and not proceed on the assumption that Crump might be there another season or that BV will miraculously pluck a number one from out of nowhere that no one has ever heard of.
Wolverhampton was definitely sharper from the gate today but Freddie Lindgren looked totally off the pace. It is said elsewhere that he usually has a slow start to the season but it is a big year for Lindgren and he will need to up the ante for the GPs.
It was good to see Ales Dryml riding with some confidence after all the problems he has had with injuries over the last few years. It will be interesting to see if he is consistent through the year or will he begin to lose his way has the season goes on.
It was a meeting for both teams to find their ‘racing legs’ as the saying goes. I thought both teams were up for it but things didn’t always work out for either side with bike problems and falls for one reason or another. But it was a satisfactory first meeting and I look forward to the first EL match a week on Monday. Then it was off to home and a quick bite to eat then down the road to not so sunny Scunthorpe to see their baptism of fire in their first PL meeting.
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Walking On New Ground
We see now that we will walk on new ground now
That all that has passed is gone and it’s time to move on
We took to the road, that old road we’d passed down many times before.
The road down we drove to cold bone raw and frozen to the bone
We had passed the morning at another raceway
To test the weather and get match fit for the icy grip
We knew would reach out and take us by the hand
The sky was overcast and grey with flurries of hail lining the road
To where we’d been before
To that old ground where we’d stood around waving a red flag
The place looked the same but wait
There was a new archway over the entrance
The man there looked at me funny
Took my money
Thought he’d recognised me
He said, ‘Oh it’s you’
And yes it was me
Walking on the old ground
Where I’d been before
We walked through the gate
A gesture was made
It’s never too late
That’s what they say
I picked up my program
And walked around the old ground
I saw the people there
Preparing for the golden moment
When they would walk on new ground
To test the waters of the future
To see if they belonged there
To see if they could raise themselves up
To a new standard
I saw the old faces walking around
Going through the routine they have brought to perfection
The man on the tractor having prepared a track for racers
Everyone preparing for the moment
That was here now and you could feel the ground shaking
As they walked on the new ground they had been preparing
Taking up the challenge
The challenge of by fire they’d accepted
From their rivals up the road
Who had led them a merry dance
A couple of nights before
But they were all walking on new ground
A decent crowd gathered to witness
The cutting of the ribbon
The man with the camera
He was there to capture the moment
And we walked around the new ground
To stand on the back straight
With the colours hung on the fence
And we watched it all unfold
The riders coming out on parade
Straight after the announcer
Said they wouldn’t
But they were all walking on new ground
And it was all becoming now
That thought they had about moving up
Would it be justified in this moment
And they had a new team
A group of riders who didn’t know each other
Up against a slick machine who’d known each other
For longer than most of them care to remember
And the track was good
It was a racers track
It was new ground
Looking for a new standard of riding
To fetch in a new crowd
And to bind them all together
And the weather itself was cold
Colder than we’d ever know it
It was cold bone raw
And we were long past frozen to the bone
But it didn’t matter
We were walking on new ground
And the ribbon was cut
When that disembodied voice said
‘You have one minute’
And there they were stood at the tapes
And those tapes went up
To introduce us all to a new season
They were riding on new ground
Those who knew each other well
And those who didn’t
Would they gel
Would they rise to the challenge
That baptism of fire
Rained down upon them
By that crew from up the road
That team of riders
Who flew from the gate
Saying ‘catch us if you can’
And the whole thing was in the balance
All the way through
As those we didn’t really know
Did all they could
To snare the Tiger
That was roaring all the way
To a victory that was theirs
And it got colder and colder
And we all shivered
But the riders were on fire
Just to get themselves
That much warmer
For they were all walking
On new ground
And finally it was all over
And the ice was broken
And they have made
Their first moves
On this new chess board
As we watched it all unfold
Despite the cold
And we move on too now
For we must also walk on new ground
And all the old faces floated past
And I saw them though
They didn’t notice me watching
From the other side of the fence
And we made our way out into the dark night falling
But we had been there for the new birth
To watch them walking on the new ground
Where they will find their way before too long
And write themselves a new chapter in their history
For it was a great day at the races
And once they all come together as one
They can rise to new heights
And give a few people a real fright
Creating memories yet to come
On this new ground that has now become
It was a great day in the evening
For those concerned
We stood there as it all unfolded
There was enough shown to be satisfied with
All of those riders have a lot more to give
When they have learned to live with the track
Learned to live with each other
On the day when it all comes together
On this new ground
They have taken up the challenge of the future
And we will see what comes of this tomorrow
That is today now
And this day has come and gone
And it’s time to move on
We are all walking on new ground
There is no need to look for it anymore
All of it has been found
And we will watch and see what
Becomes of it all
For the future is here now
And what they were then
Has passed and is gone
And it’s time to move along
This new ground