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Monday, 28 January 2008 |
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The BRDA
annual general meeting took place on Saturday (26th) at the usual venue - Moor
Hall Hotel at Sutton Coldfield and there was certainly plenty to discuss with
some historical positive changes announced.
Speaking
with full backing from his team of directors, Chairman John Horton pulled out
plenty of surprises appealing to spectators, drivers and members of the BRDA. In
his opening statement Horton immediately quashed rumours of financial difficulty
for the BRDA by confirming that another company within the U.K also known as
BRDA Ltd had recently gone in to receivership and although felt sorrow for the
other company confirmed that 2007 was "one of the best years for 'us'
financially" and indeed had made a surplus which would be pushed back in to the
MSA British Rallycross Championship to "further strengthen the sport to achieve
maximum potential for 2008 and beyond".
He announced that as the BRDA had
reaped the benefits for a well planned season in 2007, including one of the most
successful events ever held at Lydden Hill last Easter Monday, and receiving
support from many volunteers to help stage the 2007 calendar that the Kumho
Tyres MSA British Rallycross Championship will undoubtfully be even more
successful for 2008.
Other highlighted news was welcomed such as:
- Entry fees for all drivers regardless of category will
be reduced to £150 across the board per event.
- The Pembrey double header on May 3rd/4th will be
delivered as two completely separate point scoring rounds incorporating the
Irish Championship for a single entry fee of £150 for both rounds.
- Talks are currently in place with Kumho tyres to explore
different compounds of tyre availability, the possibility of 'free' cutting of
the same and an introduction of a Mud + Snow tyre for extreme conditions.
- The Stock-Hatch category will now be using the Kumho
control tyres and are available only from Mel Williams.
- New driver representatives were elected - Supercar =
Steve Hill, Supermodified = Michael Boak, Stock Hatch = Hal Ridge while Peter
Gwynne will remain the contact for Juniors. It was promised that driver reps
would be more pro-active than in recent years and drivers were encouraged to
contact their rep as a first port of call for any queries or concerns.
- The director team for 2008 will be John Horton, Pat
Doran, Dave Bellerby, Andy Stevens and Ollie O'Donovan.
- Andy Bedford was appointed as membership secretary and
would work closely with Richard Place of Ripla Designs to ensure a
constant stream of new information for the Rallycrossuk.com website
which is currently undergoing it's third facelift in as many years and will be
launched in plenty of time for the new season.
- Clear lines of communication will be established on all
levels of the championship.
Horton went
on to say that much work was still to be done but with the new team of people
and volunteers for 2008 this would be achieved with less haste. He also thanked
the marshall's, drivers and volunteers who helped make the 2007
championship such a success.
The annual
awards ceremony followed the meeting and proved a very enjoyable evening hosted
by Rallycross commentator Arthur Debenham, a full report and pictures will be
released soon on www.rallycrossuk.com
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