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Council Forces Cancellation Of Drift Trike World Champs

Auckland City
Council Flip Flop Forces Cancellation Of Drift Trike  World
Champs - Photo Credit: Matthew Markby
Photo Credit: Matthew Markby

Auckland City Council Flip Flop Forces Cancellation Of Drift Trike World Champs

Fans around the world of the new found sport of drift triking are disappointed with the Auckland City Council after their actions forced the cancelation of the upcoming Drift Trike World Championship event last week.

Riders who qualified into the Drift Trike World Championship Final this November are gutted with the organizers decision to cancel the event after the council flip-flopped over the organization and management of the chosen location at Whaikowhai Park.

Whangarei based SBPnz & Oversteer TV sponsored riders from DHM say the Auckland City Council have shown incompetence over their decision making. Kenny Ruddell, who finished 7th at round 2 to qualify into the finals, calls it another example of bureaucratic red tape that has lead to the cancelation of a free, fun, family friendly event and a chance for the local community to check out the new exciting sport. "We're all pretty disappointed, it was going to be a fantastic weekend, we had done our best to setup something safe and fun for everyone and promote the sport in a good light, obviously that is now out the window, everyone who qualified for the finals is just gutted, especially for all the keen sponsors who came onboard".

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The ‘Demon Energy Drift Trike World Championship’ had been organized to take place in Auckland on November 12th, this is the first competition of its kind in the world and gathered entries from all corners of the globe with entries from England, America, Australia and Portugal.

10 weeks before the event, event organizer Adam Crouchley submitted the event permit for the location to the events team at the Auckland City Council. At the time he discussed the plans with the council and was initially told they could see no issues with holding the event at the chosen location of Waikowhai Park. 6 weeks later, only 4 weeks out from the day of the event, the Auckland City Council then decided to change their mind and inform Crouchley that he would need a traffic management plan and a road closure requirement. This was going to take 4-5 weeks minimum to get drawn up, approved, submit public notification and be accepted by the council, leaving the earliest possible date to run the event too late.

When asked why the Auckland City Council had only just decided to ask for a traffic management plan, Crouchley was told by the council “We’ve been really busy with the Rugby World Cup.”

Crouchley says, “We’ve got Demon Energy and Torpedo7 onboard to try and promote the sport as one where people can have fun and at the same time stay safe and not upset residents and road users.” He said, “We’ve had a request from MTV to come over and film the event, and the No Limits magazine has been covering the build up to the event. It’s very disappointing for everyone involved.”

With over 4,000 members on his website (www.drifttrikescom), Crouchley has organized several drift trike events all around New Zealand. He promotes the safe use of drift trikes and has been working hard to encourage ‘drift trikers’ to respect the public. Crouchley says he has had excellent support from sponsors, police and residents.

SBPnz was also set to cover the event, with some 35,000 viewers tuning into the online coverage of Round 2.

Whangarei based DHM riders are now set to try establish their own smaller competition over the next few months and invite national competitors. "It'd be great to see a full field up here (in Whangarei) competing in something, we've got a few ideas installed, ideally a full drift competition would be fantastic but i think a smaller free-style type event would go down well with the locals and provide some fun entertainment" Says Kenny Ruddell, "we've got a few locations in mind, but i think the obvious one allot of people have suggested with us is to team up with the local trolley derby down bank st or something similar"

A Drift Trike is a cross between a BMX and a Go Kart, riders intentionally slide through a set of corners in competition or freestyle runs down hills and mountain passes. The extreme sport has enjoyed allot of growth in New Zealand and around the world with the help of Media Coverage and Social Networking.

ENDS

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