Government ends Kyalami WSB contract
Added on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Government ends Kyalami WSB contract
The Kyalami circuit in South Africa will pull out of World Superbikes at the end of this season after the circuit’s contract was bought out by local government.
The circuit, which hosted its first WSB event since 2002 last season, will see a number of events cancelled at the end of 2010 as local governments look to find ways of cutting costs due to a downturn in revenues following the recession.
The Gauteng provincial government has agreed to pay R115m (£10.29m) to FGSport in order to bring the Kyalami WSBK and Superstars contracts to an end after this season, with the 2009 Kyalami round reported to have made a loss for circuit owners.
“The legal advice we received is that these agreements were probably unenforceable under South African law, but potentially enforceable in a foreign jurisdiction which would then expose the provincial government to costly litigation and reputational risk,” said Firoz Cachalia, Gauteng MEC for Economic Development.
“We have therefore settled these two contracts with FGSport which requires that the provincial government pays an amount of R115 million by the end of April 2010, an obligation which we will fulfil.
“In terms of the settlement agreement, the provincial government will carry out its obligations to host the two events already set down in the 2010 calendar. We will ensure that these events are a success.”
Other motorsport contracts – including A1 GP, BMW Sauber and the pursuit of an F1 round – will also be cancelled to produce a reported saving of around R796m (£71.3m).
The 2010 event will take place as scheduled on May 14-16.
