Whoa, things happen fast sometimes. After some years of acrimony between the promoters of the MX Nationals and the Youthstream, things quickly took a turn for the better this year when they agreed to cooperate on events here in the U.S. That resulted in a USGP scheduled for Labor Day weekend at Gatorback Raceway in Gainsville, FL. The sudden turn was remarkable, and good for all parties involved, including fans in the Southeast who had been clamoring for a world-class MX race in the Southeast.
But...suddenly, it was announced that there's a new venue for this year's USGP. WW Ranch, near Jacksonville, FL. That's only about a 70 mile difference, and it still works for the logistics of the arriving GP equipment. So what happened? Well, as we understand it, it goes like this...
Wyn Kern, the longtime promoter at Gatorback, had been leasing the track from a group of owners. In the past, every time it came time for renewal, a new agreement had been worked out, and the lease was extended. The most recent lease ended in June, and Wyn assumed that he'd be able to renegotiate a deal to continue into the future.
Apparently there was also a provision in the lease that if there was ever an AMA National (not GP) there, that there would be a relative increase in price.
We've been told that when the owners discovered that a World Championship GP had been scheduled there, they weren't happy, and boosted the cost of a renewal to an unreasonable level...far beyond the double price. More like in the realm of 1000%. Negotiations went back and forth, but were still too far apart to come to an agreement.
Attempts were made to even rent the facility for that weekend only. Those also failed.
For all intents and purposes, it sounds like Gatorback is now done, and it's likely that the Mini O's will also be moving to WW Ranch.
So that's it in a nutshell. We're looking forward to checking out the race on September 3rd.
You can check out the WW Ranch web site at: http://www.wwmotox.com
