Travelin Ann Nov 4, 2009:

@Britaly I "understood" what you meant by JCB, but had to look it up, to reassure myself of my understanding.
http://www.jcbna.com/app/home.aspx
"Caterpillar" says more to me (US).

Travelin Ann Nov 4, 2009:

janisct Just found another informational site with this comment:<br>"le circuit de neris les bains est refait ( griffer ) chaque semaine les sauts sont fait pour tous niveau de pilotage."<br>Link: http://www.mxteam.com/forums/index.php?s=febc58c8e5e446d9ae4...

and

Ainsi le club a-t-il modifié son chargeur afin de pouvoir ‘griffer’ la piste afin d’améliorer sa préparation et son arrosage.

Link: http://actu.esprit-racing.com/09/une-nouvelle-fois-valence-o...

janisct (asker) Nov 3, 2009:

Thanks to Britaly for a very thorough explanation. Very helpful.

Travelin Ann Nov 3, 2009:

That same Canadian site thanks their sponsors, many of whom have supplied heavy equipment (road graders, tractors, excavators) for track prep:
http://www.saskatoonmotocross.com/sponsors.shtml

Joanne Nebbia Nov 3, 2009:

yes but ... it is indeed true that tracks need to be prepared for events and griffer could probably mean just that as they use a JCB to put in jumps and to iron out too many ruts. They would also water a track which was too dry and dusty. However, the last bit of the text would seem to be saying that there were so many ruts and water holes (no doubt due to overwatering) that the circuit had become a single navigable path so I think you can only reasonably suggest something like "the track had been badly prepared, was too rutted and had been overwatered". I would have thought that it was unlikely that the organisers had put in too many ruts on purpose. Sorry this is long winded. Hope it helps

janisct (asker) Nov 3, 2009:

This gets better and better! thanks so much for all your research

Travelin Ann Nov 3, 2009:

@saralap You may have a point. Found both griffer and arroser in this text:<br>http://www.premiermotocross.com/home.php/2009/10/27/motocros...
From a commentary on the track in Spain:
"Les organisateurs ont l’habitude de bien préparer la piste en griffant la terre."<br><br>From a Canadian track's website:<br>When our track is freshly groomed and packed there are as many table-top and speed jumps as possible.

so, as an alternative - "over-groomed and over-watered"

saralap Nov 3, 2009:

What if "griffer" (and "arroser") actually refers to some process that is part of track preparation? Maybe they do something deliberately to roughen it. I'm sorry I don't have the technical knowledge to confirm this either way, it just occurred to me that it might help to interpret "griffé" as a verb.