2001
Coca Cola International
North West 200
Motorcycle Road Races
NIBIKER Comments
22nd March 2001
The article below expresses my own views and is in no way related to the Coleraine Motor Club
Foot and Mouth Disease - Will we have a NW200 this year
Following the cancellation of the Cookstown and Tandragee 100s and
another confirmed case of Foot and Mouth in Dundalk today,
the organisers of the NW200 will have to make a tough
decision in the following days.
It is my personal view that it is increasingly
unlikely that the NW200 will be able to go ahead. I think it is a
reality based on recent events (or lack of them!).
The Giants Causeway is
still closed to visitors last time I heard and based on the large number
of visitors the event attracts from all over Ireland, the UK and further
afield, surely it is too big a risk to take. We can't forget also that part of the course runs through farmland.
I can
fully appreciate, from attending the majority of the press conferences,
just how much work goes into organising such an event how disheartening it
would be if the race was cancelled. I know I am very much
looking forward to attending the race if it goes ahead, but fans,
organisers and sponsors must be extremely doubtful at this point in
time.
The Coleraine Club stated at the last Press Conference that they had no contingency plans and were reviewing the situation on a weekly basis with the event being on until declared off. Do they have a choice?
We await the press conference on 27th March...watch this space.