The much-anticipated Isle of Wight Road Races motorcycle event, which was due to take place in April, has now been pushed back until 2023 due to a lack of action by the Isle of Wight Council.

It is said that the delay is due to unresolved issues with the Motor Race Order (MRO). This is the permission needed to close public roads for motorsport and is essential for the event to go ahead.

The MRO is acquired through the Isle of Wight Council. Previously, an act of parliament was required for motorsport to take place on the public highway but the law was changed in recent years.

Event promoter James Kaye has said:

“We have reluctantly accepted that the Isle of Wight Road Races now can’t go ahead on our planned dates this year. Our Motor Race Order application was submitted on time to the Isle of Wight Council on 19th October 2021, but has not yet been determined. We understand that there are some technical concerns, but this is out of our control and the clock has run down.”

In a statement to the promoter, the Council has said that

‘it is not yet satisfied that the application has been duly made in accordance with the relevant legislation’.

However, the ACU – the governing body of motorcycle racing in England – has confirmed that it issued all the relevant paperwork, including the correct permit, as part of the Isle of Wight’s application.

The team behind Isle of Wight Road Races are professionals in their field with many of them involved in the iconic Isle of Man TT.

The IWRR team say they will be looking firstly for ways to understand and resolve the problems which the Isle of Wight Council has highlighted before negotiating new dates within the international road racing calendar.

It was expected that the Isle of Wight Road Races could bring in the region of £30million of direct investment to the Island with much of this income shared directly amongst local businesses.

James adds:

“We would like to thank all the Isle of Wight Road Races fans and in particular the Island-based motorcycle clubs and the Facebook supporters group for their continued enthusiasm and encouragement. Especially those who had already looked to book travel and accommodation for April.

“We have received an enormous amount of positivity from across the whole Island, including many residents, land owners and businesses based in and around the circuit in Brighstone, Chale and Shorwell. We look forward to securing new dates for the Isle of Wight Road Races as soon as possible.”

An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson has said:

“The council had been awaiting further information from the Auto-Cycle Union (ACU) — the governing body for motorbike races — in order to progress the application but this was not received.

“This has meant that, as per the relevant legislation, the motor race application was not considered to be duly made and could not be considered by the council.

“Further, it is unfortunate that the application was submitted on, or near, the latest possible date to meet statutory requirements which left no allowance for changes to the application documentation.”

It was announced in July 2020 that a major motorcycle race would be heading to the Island in October 2021. However, the event was then postponed until 2022 before things changed dramatically, with Diamond Races disappearing. Just a month later Isle of Wight Road Races appeared from the ashes.