Change Of Venue For Next Pro Tour
The next round of the 2011 Rotax Pro Tour, Pro Tour 4 on July 22-24, will now be hosted by the Warwick Kart Club at their Sandy Creek Raceway. The event was originally scheduled to run at Ipswich on the same weekend, so all that has changed is the venue.
In a statement, IKD Managing Director Ian Black listed a time-line of events leading to the change of venue:
- IKD established the event guidelines for the 2011 series and Ipswich Kart Club received the guidelines in September last year
- Ipswich Kart Club liased with IKD and wanted to run the event, they also proceeded to get a date allocated by the AKA and everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly
- Ipswich Kart Club asked IKD again for a copy of the event guidelines and we supplied them with these on the 12th April, 2011
- IKD then received a letter from Ipswich Kart Club dated 24th May, 2011, stating that they did not want to run the event based on the event guidelines and they proposed a new financial structure for the event which included a $10,000 track hire component
- IKD then advised Ipswich that this was unreasonable and unacceptable and asked Ipswich to reconsider this decision. IKD was then informed that their decision was firm
- IKD then contacted the Warwick Kart Club who have agreed to host the event
- IKD have contacted the QLD AKA and asked permission for the event to be moved, this permission has been given
"I am terribly disappointed in the way this has panned out and I am sorry that it will cause the competitors some inconvenience" Black said.
"We have other clubs around Australia desperate to get a round of the Pro Tour because they seem to provide clubs with a very healthy return and a great weekends racing.
"IKD feel that we contribute more than enough support to our host clubs and it is extremely disheartening that so close to an event date, a club has effectively thrown it away without any regard to the effect on its competitors.
"It is very unfortunate that information was circulated by Ipswich Kart Club before we could confirm alternative arrangements and make a formal announcement to our competitors.
"We look forward to running the event at Warwick with a club that is genuinely interested in the Rotax Pro Tour and its competitors."
