Club postpones Ride 4 Roo event

Manjimup Motor Cycle Club has been forced to postpone the Ride 4 Roo event scheduled for this weekend as per a statement from the club. The ride was meant to take place on July 10 but has been rescheduled for a date to be determined. Ride 4 Roo is an event hosted by the club which celebrates the life and memory of young rider Rhys “Roo” Burnett, who died after an accident in the 2019 WA Motocross Championships aged 17. Manjimup Motor Cycle Club president Shane Blakers said one of the contributing factors for the postponement was a lack of numbers for the ride. “It’s been a pretty big couple of months for motocross and we just didn’t get a lot of nominations, not enough to make the event worth having,” he said. Other reasons for the indefinite delay included an incredibly busy motocross calendar for many of the riders who are taking part in State and national competitions and the Manjimup motocross track still needing major repairs after the Manjimup 15,000 in early June. Blakers said he wanted to unequivocally state the reason for delaying the event was because they did not wish to do the Burnett family or riders a disservice by forcing the ride to be this weekend. “I don’t want it to come across that we didn’t care, it’s not about money you know, the club is not interested in making money (out of the ride), it’s a memorial event but we want to make sure we get people there to make a good event of it,” he said. Blakers wanted to extend a big thank you to the riders who did nominate to take part for the event, originally scheduled for this weekend. “It’s obviously every important to the Burnett family and all Roo’s friends and we’ve obviously dealt with them very closely through the whole issue and we gratefully appreciate the guys who nominated and wanted to attend the event,” he said. “It’s very important to the club as a whole and we want to do a good event for everyone involved.”