IT is all systems go for the Blue Lake BMX Club this week, with its first post-COVID race meeting scheduled for tonight.
The club has released its draw for the remainder of the season, which boasts racing every Friday night until the South Australian State Titles on the final weekend in September.
Blue Lake BMX Club president Stephen Jones said everyone was excited to get back on the track for some pedal-pushing action, with the last gate drop on race day back in March.
He said as far as club activities go, everything is “pretty much back to normal”, with few restrictions remaining in place outside of the general social distancing and hygiene practices.
“We are going to be doing trainings on Tuesday nights and racing on Friday night,” Jones said.
“We are pretty much scheduled to race through to the state titles.”
The SA state titles will be run from September 24 to 27, with a bumper field expected at the event providing the COVID-19 situation does not change for the worse.
“That will be good for Mount Gambier and the club to have that here again,” Jones said.
“We will probably have 350 South Australian riders and if the borders open it could end up the best part of 500-550 riders.
“The Victorian titles and all that stuff has been cancelled – we are sort of one of the only states that are still going ahead.”
The club’s track specialist is expected in two week’s time to work on the surface of the track to prepare the facility for the state event, while a record attendance at a working bee on the weekend has the venue all ready for tonight’s racing.
“We had a working bee to get all the facilities up and running again and clean up so we can go back racing,” Jones said.
“We probably had at least 25 parents turn up – I have never had that many people turn up to a working bee before.”
A couple of months ago the prospect of returning to racing was shrouded in doubt, but the club has been working quietly in the background in preparation for this moment.
“We have been busy in the off-season – or the corona-season I guess – and have done a lot of work on the clubrooms and just general housekeeping stuff,” Jones said.
“For it to all swing around and start going again it has been really good.
“We have everything ready and we can get straight back into it.”
With about three months of club meetings scheduled before the state titles, Blue Lake members will have plenty of time to acclimatise to racing again, before what Jones expects to be one of the biggest events at the club.
“If the restrictions open up again that is going to be one of the bigger meetings we have had for a long time I reckon,” he said.
“With so many BMX competitions being cancelled, people are keen to get back to it again.”
