There are yet more changes to the Red Bull Pro Nationals calendar but as this Events 22 PR blurb states Duns is all set for this weekend’s championship action…
While it may have been lovely weather for ducks, the recent monsoon conditions have been less kind for motocross organisers and here at Events 22, promoters of the Red Bull Pro Nationals, we’ve been forced to reschedule our schedule.
The freak weather has apparently been caused by a kink (no, not the dressing up like Peppa Pig kinda kink) in the jet stream which has dragged down weather from the Arctic rather than pulled it up from the Mediterranean, resulting in water-logged venues, stressed landowners and tear-stained organisers.
But the good news is that after a week of worry, head-scratching and a general all-round accelerated aging process – plus a lead-footed drive up the M1 for MCF General Manager Roy Barton – round four at Duns is go, go, go!
RB jumped in his Jag on Friday lunchtime and triggered speed cameras from Oxford to Edinburgh to make an emergency inspection of the Duns track. We feared the worst but Roy rocked up to a circuit and infrastructure in surprisingly good nick considering the fact that 10 years of rain had fallen on Scotland in the last 10 minutes.
“Duns Motocross is looking great,” reckons Roy. “We were worried it was going to be better for growing rice than hosting top-flight motocross but our fears were unfounded and round four will be taking place there next weekend.”
However, while the news from Duns is good there’s less positive feedback from Whitby where the fields we use for spectator parking are more suited to canoes than cars so we’ve had to reassess the situation. The result is that the Skelder Bank event has been switched to Canada Heights on August 4-5 when we will return to Kent and make up for the cancellation of round three’s Sunday programme.
“It’s been a nightmare start to the season for us,” admits Events 22 Managing Director Matt Bates, “but we’ve been totally at the mercy of the weather and we’re certainly not alone – the British summer has hit organisers of all sorts of events.
“It’s great news that Roy’s given the go-ahead for Duns and while we’re disappointed to pull the plug on Whitby where the landowner is reluctant to have his fields torn up there are positives to be drawn from returning to Canada Heights. With many riders from the Midlands also entered for our event at Mill in Holland the following weekend, on top of the possibility of a dry paddock it also means reduced diesel costs for the majority.”
Ps – that’s not Kristian Whatley in the picture it’s actually David Bowie who originally performed the hit song Changes…
