Speedway in New Plymouth

[Grumpy]

Was planning on a trip to New Plymouth in Nov for the long track champs but was enquiring about accomadation today and was told that it is cancelled. Can anyone shed some light on this.

[LB]

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There's now another thread on this too - http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=16213 - but here is the gen......from yesterday's Daily News (Taranaki local paper)

"NEW PLYMOUTH'S round of the World Long Track Speedway Championship has been scrapped – for this year at least.

News broke yesterday that the city had been struck off the world championship calendar and the French round at Morizes, on September 3, would be deemed the final for this season.

Attempts by the Taranaki Daily News to obtain clarification ran into difficulties yesterday.

Several key figures in the November event at Pukekura Raceway had been asked to remain silent until an official press release was forthcoming, possibly today.

Event promoter Ivan Mauger, a nine times former world speedway champion, was spoken to in Australia yesterday, but said he was not able to comment.
With the secret out, New Plymouth mayor Peter Tennent was persuaded to speak.

"I'm extremely disappointed that we won't be seeing the best of the best of the speedway world this season. We had seen two superb events and I understand Ivan is now focused totally on making the (November 4) 2006 event a very special one. I look forward, at that stage, to welcoming back these overseas stars.

"Many of them have said to me that the Taranaki round was a highlight of the season for them, the hospitality and warmth very much appreciated."
He said it was not all bad news because the 2006 event would be even better.

"We are all signed off on that. The track has full international approval and the leg work has been done and the infrastructure is in place."

It is understood skyrocketing fuel costs were partly to blame for the cancellation of the New Zealand round. It costs millions of dollars to bring the riders, their teams, mechanics and machinery from Europe and it is believed this had put an incredible strain on the organisers' budget.

More than 8000 speedway fans attended the inaugural running of the New Zealand event in 2003 and a figure of 10,000 was quoted for last season.

Last year, the event attracted royalty with Crown Prince Tunku Mudzaffar, son-in-law of the sultan of Malaysian state of Negri Sembilan, among the dignitaries.

The world's governing body for the sport, the Federation Internationale Motorcycliste (FIM), had earlier confirmed New Plymouth would host the final round each year until 2008.

It is not known whether the cancellation of this year's round will have an impact on the long-term future of the event in New Plymouth.

The New Plymouth District Council contributed $100,000 towards course certification and television coverage in 2003 and $70,000 toward's last year's event."

My personal feeling is that if we loose this event, we're very unlikely to get it back again. I hope I'm wrong. It's a real shame, I've been to the first two and they were great events. A real coup for NZ and New Plymouth.

However, given that NZ is the only fixture outside Europe, the cost of getting the bikes/guys here must be phenomonal.
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[Grumpy]

Cheers for the info. What a bugger. Last year was the first time that I'd seen long track speedway and it was great. Lets hope that we get it back.

[Divot]

Had a email from Motorcycle New Zealand confirming this. No reasons as yet but say they will be putting out a press release. At this stage the 2006 and 2007 Meetings are still on.