King of MX Finale at Port Macquarie

Motorcycling NSW has announced a venue change for the Bikebiz King Of MX / NSW State Titles final. Here is the official news…

The event is scheduled to run on the June long weekend (June 9, 10, 11), but due to drought conditions affecting Coonabarabran, empty dams and no available water, the venue will be altered to Port Macquarie, where the Hastings Motorcycle Club will now host the final on the same weekend.

MNSW CEO Dave Cooke advised “We know everyone was looking forward to racing the finals of King Of MX at Coona, but we’ve had almost no rain there at all this year, the dam is empty, the town is on Level 6 water restrictions and there is very little rain appearing in the long range weather forecast. We were hoping we’d get some rain, but we are very much aware that people will be making travel plans for the final early, so we decided we needed to make a call sooner rather than later to shift the event to try and make life as easy as we can for everyone. It would be nice to hold out a bit longer and hope for a storm, but the longer we wait, the more people will be inconvenienced. It’s amazing to think that this time last year dozens of events were being cancelled across NSW due to flooding and too much rain. This year we are seeing lots of events cancelled due to a lack of water. It seems like almost everywhere west of the Great Divide is in drought, and lots of our country clubs are facing water issues.”

With the Goanna Tracks circuit requiring well over a million litres of water to run a three day event of this magnitude, along with additional water for track preparation in the weeks leading up to the event, there was little choice for MNSW but to find another venue to host the first King of MX NSW State Title Final. Both short and long-range weather forecasts show little to no rain in the region, and trucking that amount of water to Coonabarabran is just not feasible.
“Nobody likes making these decisions, and I’m sure some people will be upset by it, but the longer we leave it, the more impact a decision like this has on riders and their families. And frankly, we just don’t have any other choice. Better to make the call as early as we can and give people time to adjust their plans. Moving the event to Port Macquarie is a far better option than trying to find another weekend to move it to, as the back half of the year just doesn’t provide a weekend that won’t create scheduling headaches for riders. Port Macquarie has had more rain than they would have liked over the past couple of months, so we won’t have any water issues there. The Hastings Club has a great track and are well known for the quality of their track prep, and we are very thankful that the club has offered to help out and host the event for us”.

Motorcycling NSW would like to thank the members of the Coona MX and Enduro Club for their support in planning the event, and we look forward to going back there for next year’s event.