A special event to celebrate Somerset speedway’s 20th anniversary was washed out on Wednesday (April 3rd) after heavy rain left Highbridge’s Oaktree Arena track unrideable.
The Rebels were due to celebrate 20 years of speedway racing but were thwarted by the British weather as the 2019 season began in much the same way as last season, when ironically the Rebels were due to kick their home season off against Poole.
Promoter Debbie Hancock said she was ‘extremely disappointed’ to have to put the ‘Rain Off’ notices up.
She added: “We had all worked hard for this event and were l so looking forward but the one thing that we do not have control of is the weather.”
“I am bitterly disappointed that we couldn’t get the meeting on, but the conditions were such that is would have been an impossible task.”
Her co-promoter, Garry May, added: “The rain just turned the track to slush and it was quite obvious that there would have been no chance of making it rideable. The forecast wasn’t favourable and it would have been wrong to try and draw a crowd here knowing that there was no chance of any racing, so we acted promptly and made the call to postpone. Obviously, we will look at trying to re-stage it later in the season, but whether that will be possible remains to be seen.”
In a further twist of irony, the club’s 10th Anniversary meeting in 2010 had also been the subject of a postponement, but that was eventually staged in August of that season.
