2020 Season Cancellation – Club Statement

Earlier today Redcar Speedway were informed that professional league speedway in the UK had been cancelled for 2020 as a result of Coronavirus. This no doubt comes as a huge disappointment to most of our supporters and sponsors, but is likely to be expected following the governments announcement last week that supporters would not be allowed to attend professional sporting events until October at the earliest. Speedway in the UK cannot survive without gate revenue from its fans.

Redcar Speedway has faced its own challenges as a consequence of the Coronavirus pandemic, as  promoter Jitendra Duffill explains; “Firstly I’d like to thank our supporters, staff, riders and sponsors who have been supportive and understanding of our situation over the last few months. To be honest, committing to professional league speedway this year was going to be a huge challenge for us anyway. We have had major concerns about the likelihood of reduced crowd numbers resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. There was a worry that the consequences of that would have put our club in financial difficulty and the future of the club in jeopardy. We also lost the services of some key members of staff. There are some upsetting things I cannot say at this time, but one major blow for us is that Terry Chrabaszcz, our main track curator, has had to resign from his position at the club as he has now found full time employment. To say we are gutted would be an understatement, but we fully understand and appreciate his reasons and he will be very difficult to replace. Terry has been a massive asset to Redcar Speedway for the last 3 years and he has done a phenomenal job in his time with us. I know that Terry is as disappointed as we are to be leaving, but the loss of his services are another unfortunate consequence of Covid-19. I’d like to wish him well and can’t thank him enough for his efforts.”

“We made a press release a few weeks ago stating that all of our club’s partner sponsors had already committed to backing the club in 2021. This was a major boost for us and we are extremely fortunate and thankful to have that support. Following our last press release, we also had over half of our season ticket holders contact us confirming that they would like to roll their tickets over to 2021. I really can’t stress just how massive that is to us and we are so grateful! Because of this support, we have no concerns about Redcar Speedway coming to the tapes in 2021 and we are confident that we can survive during these strange and challenging times.”

“We have now made the decision to roll all season tickets over into 2021 automatically unless the holder requests a refund. Any refund requests will be granted without hesitation and I ask anybody who would prefer this to email me directly, to duffill.redcarbears@gmail.com using the subject ‘Season Ticket Refund’. We completely understand and respect everyone’s situation is different and that some supporters would prefer to take this route. All supporters that decide to roll their tickets over to 2021 will be shown our gratitude by gaining access to every single race meeting in 2021, whether it be a league, cup, open or play off match. We want to show our supporters that we do not take their support for granted and want to give them something back.”

“I would also like to acknowledge our riders and staff, who have never put us under any pressure for information that we could not offer and have demonstrated nothing but understanding and commitment to our club. It has been a financially challenging time for most people and our riders have probably felt that more than most as their livelihood was taken away from them overnight. The advice that I gave to our riders just after the outbreak of this pandemic was to take employment if they could and not to worry if that compromised their ability to commit to racing this year. We couldn’t promise them anything and I didn’t expect them to put their lives on hold for something that may not happen. All of them have worked during this time and I’m pleased that they have had some much needed income.”

“I would like to make it very clear that we are committed to our team and all 7 Bears will be invited back to race for us next year, assuming the relevant loaning clubs and 2021 regulations allow that to happen. The Redcar promotion do not want to change anything and we will honour their 2020 contracts in 2021 if that is possible. All 7 riders from our 2020 team have told us that they want to be at Redcar next year and nothing would make us happier than to see that happen.”

“In the meantime, we have been opening our stadiums doors to riders for private hire and practice sessions recently. This is something that we would like to continue right through to next season as it is bringing some much needed income to the club. We also have an amateur meeting planned for the 9^th August and hope to announce dates for more of them soon. Unfortunately, we are unable to allow spectators at this moment in time but encourage supporters to keep watching our social media pages for updates as this may change in the future.”

“I have also been asked if we would be willing to stage an individual or open meeting in October if we are allowed to at that time. My answer to that is that it’s a little too early to decide, but we are not ruling anything out at this time. Again, please keep an eye on our website and social media as this will be the first place you will see any news from us.”

“I’ll end by sending our best wishes to all of our supporters, staff, sponsors and riders. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible. There are challenging times ahead, but I’m confident that British Speedway will bounce back from this as its promoters are 100% committed to our sport. I know that there’s been a massive effort and complete dedication to rescuing this season against all the odds and it has come as a major blow to the association to have all of that hard work undone. The BSPL have never given up, I can assure you of that and it’s a huge boost that the association’s media partner Eurosport have confirmed our contract with them will roll over into 2021!”