Fans, participants, and race volunteers of Wirral 100 are deeply saddened by the suspension of racing events for 2025.
Announcement by the Wirral 100 Motor Club 13th December 2024.
RACING SUSPENDED BY WIRRAL 100
Decision
Following the Club’s AGM on 21st November and the subsequent meeting of its new Committee on 12th December, it has been decided to suspend the Club’s racing activities for 2025.
The reasons for this are twofold:
- The large financial losses it has incurred in the period 2022-2024, especially in 2024, brought about primarily by a large decrease in rider numbers, with little or no prospects for improvement in 2025 (see the detailed ‘Background’ comments below).
- A lack of depth in our event organising team, exacerbated by the recent resignations, for personal reasons, of Helen & Hefin Smith, race secretary and senior clerk of the course respectively; we cannot thank them enough for their hard work and commitment over the last 15 years or so, and particularly over the last 3 years.
The Club appreciates, of course, that this suspension of racing will be disappointing news not only for our riders, our officials & marshals, but also for the paddock fraternity at large, for the ACU, and for the management of the two high-quality circuits we have used in recent years. We are aware that other motorcycle road racing clubs are experiencing similar financial and staffing problems, and that many within our paddock have also expressed concern about the Club’s future and the future of the Sport.
But to be clear – Wirral 100 is not being disbanded and it still has Funds available to re-start activities, if and when financially viable opportunities arise in the future and provided it has the manpower to support them.
The current Officers & Committee thank everyone for their past support and current understanding, and hope that the Club, about to embark on its 98th Year, will soon be able to return to action again in the not-too-distant future.
The intention is to provide members and supporters with regular updates on the Club’s official website, Facebook and Twitter platforms, particularly in the short term as regards the presentation / distribution of our 2024 championship trophies, and generally as regards the Club’s future. In the meantime we wish all of our riders, marshals, officials, medics, sponsors, guest class co-ordinators and supporters the very best wishes for the New Year, and, racing-wise at whichever clubs and circuits they visit.
Background
With a traditional rider-base from the North West of England and North Wales, the Club seems to have been particularly hit by the economic climate and a failure to fully recover our rider numbers after Covid, exacerbated by inflationary increases in most of our costs and the cash flow effects of a significant proportion of riders being seemingly unable or unwilling to pay their entry fees on time. Add to this, from a rider’s perspective: the administrative obstacles of entering the sport, the pure cost of going racing, the cost of tyres, too many conflicting race meetings on the calendar, counter attractions including track-days, many more riders leaving the sport than joining it, family pressures, and the increased uncertainty of the weather, etc. It was perhaps a sad sign of the times that not one single rider attended the recent AGM, or submitted any items for discussion.
To put our rider numbers and finances into perspective, at the two Oulton Park meetings in 2024, the average number of riders was 135, when we needed approximately 200 to break even, a figure regularly achieved a few years ago. At the three Anglesey meetings this year, the standard W100 classes attracted an average of just 89 riders, when we need approximately 130 to break even; the June meeting was financially fine as we were boosted by an additional 53 riders competing in guest classes. A total of 153 W100-class solo riders entered at least one of the Anglesey meetings this year, but 92 rode in one meeting only and just 36 rode in all three meetings. At the recent Anglesey Grand meeting, we had just 93 entries compared with 123 in 2023; in the past this meeting regularly attracted 150 riders. And, faced with this very serious reduction in entry fees received, our fixed costs have increased year-on-year.
CLUB OFFICERS & COMMITTEE CONTACTS FOR 2025 – or via our website www.wirral100.co.uk, and via Facebook and Twitter
CHAIRMAN: – Dave Edwards – email: david.edwards10@ntlworld.com; tel: 07801 539214
VICE CHAIRMAN: – (Position vacant)
GENERAL SECRETARY – Neil Broughton – email: w100mc@gmail.com: tel: 07702 889194
TREASURER – Dave Francis – email: davidfrancis_is@yahoo.co.uk; tel: 0151 336 4940
ROAD RACE SECRETARY – (Position vacant)
SOCIAL SECRETARY – Andy Wilmore – email: zippie01@gmail.com
PUBLICITY OFFICER – (Position vacant)
AWARDS SECRETARY – (Position vacant)
ROAD RACE CHIEF MARSHAL – Angie Jacques – email: angie.jacques54@gmail.com; tel: 07956 291985
CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER – Martin Crook – tel: 07423 056@280; email: crookmec@talktalk.net; tel 07423 056280
RIDERS’ LIAISON OFFICER – David Jones – email: david8992@icloud.com
PRESIDENT: Margaret Dewsnap
VICE PRESIDENTS: John Barnett, Martin Crook, Joe Edwards, Pete Kelly, John Watkin
COMMITTEE: All above plus John Jones, Gary Uttley
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