PEOPLE often joke that speedway riders only work for five minutes a night but there’s so much stuff you don’t see.
My engine didn’t turn up for Thursday’s meeting and I had to ride something else, my second engine, so I had to start trying to track it down.
It left Poland on Monday and then was supposed to arrive on Thursday but I couldn’t find it. I called the courier and apparently the tracking numbers didn’t match and they couldn’t find it. It was a bit of a mess.
Things happen sometimes but it was late. I use the same service all the time and I know when it arrives, so it was odd it wasn’t there.
It’s a five grand engine, which is obviously a big hit, but it’s more of a problem that I don’t have that engine, rather than the money. Thankfully it turned up in the end.
It’s all logistical, there’s stuff going on everywhere and you have to keep on top of it.
On Thursday I had one engine arrive in Prague at the stadium for the GP and they’re all over the place. We had vans and flights going to and from Finland and Poland, parts being delivered, everything.
That’s all behind the scenes, it didn’t go to plan on Thursday but it’s normally ok.
I’ve got a pretty good calendar and I spend a fair amount of time in front of the computer every day trying to work out where everything is and the best way to get it everywhere. You want cheap deals and good times so it’s pretty complicated stuff.
There are enough people travelling everywhere to help you with stuff too. Last week a bike went from Finland back to Poland, then I chucked an engine in with Andriy Karpov to go to Sweden and that got dropped in Gothenburg, serviced, and then sent down to Prague.
That’s just a normal week, that’s what we have to do, and there’s a lot of time spent on the phone to everyone trying to work out who’s going where and how we can help.
Next time it will be me taking something for someone, we all try and help each other because speedway’s a small world.
There’s a lot of trust, you don’t want to do anything bad to each other because one day you’re in the same team as someone then the next you’re against them.
It’s a weird thing but it’s our life.