A clash with a number of major sporting events at Mount Panorama will mean the Bathurst Light Car Club will not be able to host its annual Speed Weekend this year.
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It's the first time in a "considerable" number of years the committee has had to cancel the annual event, following discussions with Bathurst Regional Council, Supercars and Challenge Bathurst.
The Speed Weekend was meant to be held on November 6, but with the Challenge Bathurst on November 11-14 and the Bathurst International and Bathurst 1000 from November 30-December 5, organisers of the major events wanted the track rested ahead of racing.
Bathurst Light Car Club president Mick Tuckey said the event will not be rescheduled, but it has been booked in for late October next year to avoid any future clashes.
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"Our Speed Weekend, which is a traditional annual race that we run to wrap up our season, we can't do it because of the jumping around with the Supercars, the International and the Challenge," he said.
"We just can't fit it in there. We've explained that to the members."
Instead, the club will organise two events across the weekend of November 20-21 - a Motorkhana come-and-try event on the Saturday and Khanacross on the Sunday.
Tuckey is hoping the come-and-try event will attract a few junior participants.
"If people just want to experience it, they can come," he said.
We just can't fit it in there. We've explained that to the members.
- Bathurst Light Car Club president Mick Tuckey on the Speed Weekend being cancelled
"They have to pay but it's a lesser fee. We'd like to encourage juniors, from like 12 up to come and have a go but they'll have to bring mum and dad."
Luckily, the club hasn't been massively affected by the recent COVID-19 lockdown but the the Motorkhana and Khanacross next month will be the first major races for the club since lockdown restrictions eased.
"Through most of the year, we've been able to run most things. We missed one because of the COVID-19 restrictions but we've been fairly fortunate," Tuckey said.
"There's a return to race plan put out by Motorsprot Australia, so we have to have a plan, with masks and QR codes to get people in but it's all managed in a controlled environment.
"When we run the events during the tighter lockdown periods, we limited it to 100 kilometre radius, with nobody east of Lithgow because we were worried about the Greater Sydney and Blue Mountains area.
"We just had to limit that to look after our members and the community."
Tuckey also confirmed that the opening rounds of the NSW Hillclimb Championship will be held at Mount Panorama on the first weekend in March, 2022.
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