By Unfortunately as anticipated by many, the Spada Spring Cup will not take place in just over a weeks time.
A statement issued yesterday via the official Oliver’s Mount website by the event organisers, revealed in thorough detail, why the scheduled opening UK roads event of 2018, had been cancelled.
“It is with great sadness that we have to confirm the unfortunate news that the 2018 Oliver’s Mount Spring Cup event is cancelled.
For the last few months, many changes have been made around the circuit in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, to aid rider and spectator safety in preparation for us obtaining the required permit from the ACU to allow us to hold this event on April 21st/22nd.
New fences have been built, road signs moved, course markers purchased, additional marshals posts built and additional harris style fencing installed. The main problem however, remained with the amount of recticel that the Auto 66 Club would have to purchase to allow them to comply with the requirements of the ACU to obtain the necessary permit.
Peter Hillaby has worked tirelessly trying to obtain the required amount of recticel that would need to be added at key areas of the track. Sourcing recticel to hire has proven very difficult and the club simply could not afford to purchase the amount of recticel needed.
Our first club race at Cadwell Park was a chance for the Auto 66 Club to make some money to help fund the purchase of recticel. However, the weekend was tainted by a poor weather forecast and even worse weather on the day which actually caused day two of the event on Easter Monday to be cancelled. Rider numbers were extremely low and on a weekend that was supposed to help us raise funds, we actually lost money.
This week, we have continued to appeal to both the ACU and Scarborough council to give us more time to find a solution, one which we now feel we have with the kind gesture of the Ulster GP organisers offering us the required recticel; but it has just come too late to save this event with the permit and insurance needing to be in place already.
We are truly sorry to the race fans, riders, teams and media who have planned to attend our Spring Cup event. Postponing an event is something we do not take lightly, and we have fought as hard as we possibly could to get the Spring Cup Road Race event the permit it needs, but unfortunately it now has to be cancelled with a new date to be announced soon.
In the coming days we will be issuing another statement detailing the future plans for the Spring Cup event.
Thank you all for your messages of support. Oliver’s Mount is England’s only road race circuit. The history that has been created at this unique venue means we will not be ending the journey in this way.
This is not the end, but the start of a new, safer Oliver’s Mount road race venue.”
In addition to what’s stated above, I must add that the sheer amount of vitriol online against Peter Hillaby, the Auto 66 Club, most of which is quite frankly immensely disrespectful, does no one any favours.
As the organisers statement candidly states, they gave it everything to try and bring the 2018 Spring Cup to fruition. People need to remember there are two sides to every story, rather than a blanket straightforward approach, to an answer to a complicated situation.
The disappointment of those losing out on product promotion, watching two days of world class roads competition and now having to look at alternative travel arrangements, is nothing compared to that of the organisers of the meeting.
Long many racing at Oliver’s Mount continue, it’s a unique course that over the years has proven a favourite of a who’s who of pure road racing.
From Moto GP world champions to World Superbike champions to multiple TT winners to multiple international road race winners, it’s a venue that has a quite unique history and presence within the sport of pure road racing, largely thanks to the efforts of Peter Hillaby, the Auto 66 Club and the whole close knit organising team, who have helped make racing at Oliver’s Mount what it is today.
Words by Stevie Rial
