St. George's Cricket Club president Neil Paynter moved swiftly yesterday to squash concerns that next weekend's 2002 Bermuda Motocross Open scheduled for Wellington Oval would have long-term damaging effects on the playing pitch.

Over 500 truck loads of dirt are expected to be dumped on the club's grounds early next week after local event organiser Mike Jones yesterday unveiled plans to transform the Cup Match venue into a super-motocross race track.

The motocross spectacular has already forced the December 1 Bermuda Football Association FA Cup first round match between St.George's All-Stars and Prospect to be switched to neighbouring St.David's.

But Paynter, after being assured by organisers that only minimum damage would be inflicted on the pitch, insisted yesterday that he was both "comfortable" and "confident" with the organisers' plans.

Soccer matches will resume on December 7 at Wellington Oval when Commercial A Division rivals St.George's All-Stars and BAA Wanderers clash.

"I am no expert but I do know that they have people who come in that do these tracks throughout the United States," said Paynter.

"They do them in basketball arenas and in football stadiums."

Paynter said that preventative measures would be put into place to ensure that no lasting damage would occur.

"They treat the field first and then put down a layer of polyethylene and plywood and then make a super-cross track," he explained.

"I believe the polyethylene goes down first and then they put plywood on top and put soil down to make a super-cross track and again organisers have assured us that only minimum damage will be done to the pitch."

Paynter dismissed fears that the Wellington Oval cricket pitch - venue for next year's Cup Match classic - would suffer long-term damage.

Last season the wickets at Wellington Oval were noticeably bald with only a few blades of surface grass on the batting strips. Grass grows slower during the winter months and with tons of soil set to be dumped on the pitch, it's believed there has been some concern that the transformation could further stagnate the natural growing process.

"If you put down a piece of plywood and leave it there for a week, within two weeks that grass is back the way it should be," added Paynter.

"Obviously we are aware that grass grows slower during the winter months but we've had quite a bit of grass in recent times - maybe not as much as other grounds, but we feel comfortable and remain confident. They have assured us that there will be minimum damage and definitely no long term damage."

Paynter said he had also been assured that the track would be dismantled the day after the event concludes on December 2.

"It takes two days to erect the track and one day to dismantle it, so they will begin construction next Tuesday or Wednesday and then it will be down the Monday after," he added.

Former St.George's Cricket Club groundsman Mansfield (Bojangles) Smith declined comment yesterday when asked about any possible repercussions.

"As far as I'm concerned I'm no longer in an official capacity to make any statements about the pitch," said Smith, a groundsman for 27 years at St. George's before retiring at the end of last season.