Speedway racing won’t be taking place at the Oak Tree Arena on the outskirts of Highbridge during 2021 following a decision by the track’s owners this week to put their licence on hold.
Somerset Speedway has announced a decision not to declare their intent to compete in the 2021 season amid ongoing financial concerns caused by the ongoing Covid pandemic.
Club promoter Debbie Hancock said in a statement: “It is with a truly heavy heart that Dad, Garry and I have reached the decision to put our licence on hold, and we have informed our fellow promoters at this week’s Annual General Meeting of that fact.”
“As a family-run business, we have always prided ourselves in ensuring all riders and suppliers are paid in a timely manner and not run up any debts, but our concerns are that our income streams could be tested too greatly for that to be the case in 2021.”
“We have first-hand knowledge of how The Oak Tree arena operation has been greatly hit financially with no regular income as a consequence of the pandemic, and indications are that it will be a while yet before indoor functions are likely to be sanctioned again by the Government.”
“So, from our own experience alone, we fear that there will be many other businesses with a similar story to tell and whilst some of our loyal sponsors have indicated their willingness to continue to back the speedway, it is all too evident that many organisations will have a different view on their sponsorship budgets.”
She adds: “The world remains very much in a perilous state right now and even though there are green-shoots of a health recovery by virtue of the vaccines that are being rolled out, we feel that there will still be too much uncertainty in respect of lifting restrictions sufficiently to allow a normal season to run.”
“We respect the beliefs that a number of clubs hold for a return to a season of racing at some stage in 2021, but from our perspective, unless we could be assured of a full campaign, and it is obvious that nobody can give those assurances at this stage, then as promoters of Somerset Speedway we cannot commit to the risk of operating at a loss, and therefore have decided to withdraw and allow the riders as much opportunity as possible to find alternative team places.”
“We must emphasise that this decision was not reached lightly and was the matter of great deliberation, not least because we really didn’t want to let our fans down, but we had to face the hard facts and there can be no-one more disappointed than I am and I can only conclude this statement by saying a very big thank you to everyone who has supported us over the 20 years of racing that, both on and off track.”
The Somerset Rebels were due to compete in the SGB Championship, the second tier of British speedway’s three-tier set up, and race from April to October at the Oak Tree Arena near Highbridge.
