IT IS no secret Pirates will want to make Wimborne Road a fortress for their 2022 SGB Championship title defence – so they decided it was time for Terry.

Experienced track man Terry Chrabaszcz, literally known as ‘Terry the Track’ revealed how he was asked to examine the circuit in Dorset last season.

Pirates hosted an infamous meeting against Birmingham last August, during which a hole “about the size of a kitchen table” according to promoter Danny Ford appeared on the Wimborne Road surface.

But with 40 years of experience at an array of tracks up and down the country, shale guru Chrabaszcz was asked to help out for the business end of the 2021 campaign.

Having taken inspiration from Doc Bridgett, the man he learned his trade from, Chrabaszcz enjoyed his time at Poole so much, he came back to prepare the track this campaign.

Asked how he started working at Pirates, the track specialist told the Daily Echo: “It was towards the end of last season, there were a few problems. The SCB initially sent me down and we sorted it.

“I did the last few (meetings). The play-offs and the cup.

“There was an opportunity to come back and I took it, because it’s such a good club.

“I have been in the sport 40 years now. I’ve done Wolverhampton for years and it’s just nice to have a change of scenery and help a club out.

“I help out at Wolves and I helped relay Birmingham this winter after all the problems they had there last year.”

Asked how many tracks he would have worked on throughout his time in the sport, Chrabaszcz said: “I don’t know. Wolves, Coventry, Oxford, Redcar. I have helped out at Sheffield a bit – quite a few.

“I live just outside Cannock but the other side. I leave at three o’clock in the morning to come here but it’s worth it. I love the sport.

“It’s like 24 hours for me to come here – with the travelling back home – but it’s not a problem.”

While the hours throughout the campaign are set to intensify for Chrabaszcz, it is the positive comments from Britain’s elite riders up and down the country which helps him to keep going.

Asked what it was like to receive that feedback, the track man said: “It means a lot because you only get out what you put in. If you don’t put the work in, you are not going to get the result.

“I am looking forward to it so much because I think Poole can, hopefully, do what they did last year. That is so good from a track man’s point of view, to be part of it.”

Pirates are set to host the reborn Oxford Cheetahs in their Good Friday meeting tomorrow (7.30pm).

And number one Steve Worrall, who was part of the Poole side last season, was full of praise for the work of Chrabaszcz.

“You need to make your home track a bit of a fortress,” said the British star.

“You need to create an advantage and when the new guy came in, that’s what we were able to do.

“He was able to gain (us) a bit of an advantage from making a few things different. He was able to do it. He will come over and listen to what we want and get feedback from us.

“I feel like once he came in, it flipped around a bit. I enjoyed the track so much more.”