shane posted on August 23, 2009 23:34
An icon of motorcycling and venue of some of Australia’s all time best Motocross events - McAdam Park Barrabool in the state of Victoria - is in the final stages of its campaign to save the future of motorcycling in the City of Geelong region and preserve part of Australian motorcycling history.
The Sporting Motor Cycle Club (SMCC) and Geelong Moto Cross Club (GMCC) in conjunction with local umbrella body - Barwon Recreational Motorcycling Council – call on motorcycle supporters in the eleventh hour to help save the clubs 300 acre home before the option they have to buy the land runs out on September 7, 2009.
The clubs are now calling on support from all overseas enthusiasts via their fundraiser website “Big Picture Wall”, as funds raised could make the difference between success or failure in saving one of Australia’s greatest motorcycle circuits.
“We literally have weeks to go now, in short, we need the fans help now more than ever to make the dream of saving our sport in our region and McAdam Park, Barrabool a reality,” said SMCC President Brian Kavanagh.
“45 years ago a most generous man, Clive McAdam, let SMCC begin using his property, which luckily for us turned out to be one of the best venues for Motocross and off road riding you could ever ask for! Sadly Clive passed away in recent times and since then the family have been graciously waiting for us to be able to buy the land, but now our time is about to run out.”
“We are determined to save this special place, and we have a mechanism in place, (the Wall website) which can be our saviour, but we need to speed things up a lot; quite a lot in fact!. The club is aiming to raise $500,000 of it’s own to supplement pledges we already have from local and state governments to help secure our home. The total figure we need is just over $3M.”
“If we don’t do our bit, fill the shortfall and stand on our own two wheels then the pledged government money may not come! ”
SMCC Saving McAdam Park campaign coordinator, Peter Ovens explains, “The Big Picture Wall is the means for the everyday person to be able to help save a great track. We hope our overseas friends can help out, they will be our mates for life! Maybe one day they can drop in for a ride or see a race. I would be more than pleased to take their call someday!”
“The Wall is an image of the McAdam Park logo, made up of individual ceramic tiles that anyone can sponsorand put their name/business name on. As people sponsor us, the tiles are hilited on the wall image, like filling in a jigsaw puzzle, so people can see how we are going at a glance!.” The website is www.bigpicturewall.com
“The wall will become a physical wall at the circuit when we save the complex, which means every person on it has helped to save the track. To date we have approximately 750 names already up on the Wall but there is room for 10,000, meaning there is plenty of fundraising potential! Lately many more sponsors have been coming on board, getting more names on the Wall will make a big difference in our ability to negotiate a successful purchase come September.”
“We have many world renowned riders on the Wall. The tiles are numbered and we have even reserved many famous riders numbers in the hope they too will want to help us out and sponsor their corresponding tile. Sponsors can leave wellwish messages as well which pop up on the screen when searching over the Wall image. ”
“Tile prices range from $100 (Australian) for individual tiles to $300 for a ‘business’ tile, and all moneys are kept in trust and are available for refund if we fail to secure the land. Another option is to pledge to tiles, which means we only ask for the money when we secure the land.”
“A less expensive way saving way of helping out is to halve the cost of a tile by sharing with a friend, that way you will still get your names on the Wall and the website list of sponsors for all to see,”
“There are other ways individuals can help besides sponsoring tiles on the Wall. We have an online petition on the website which everyone can put their name to, or there is an option of just making a small donation to the cause if sponsoring a tile would stretch the budget too far, every little bit helps.”
“We hope everyone will take part in this unique fundraising website, as we do not believe our fellow motorcyclists can stand by and watch this iconic venue just fade away. Ultimately we wish to continue providing first class events for all the fans and riders of Australia to enjoy for a long, long time,” Mr Ovens said.