The public dispute between the Gunnedah Speedway promoter and Racing Sedans Australia has been resolved, clearing the way for RSA drivers to compete at Gunnedah.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Barry Towers has spoken with two RSA board members and, as a result of what he labelled a "positive phone hook-up", he lifted his short-lived ban preventing RSA-licensed drivers from competing at Gunnedah.
Read also:
The ban was imposed last week after Greta-based RSA threatened to cancel the licence of any RSA-affiliated driver who competed at Tamworth Speedway.
That followed the boiling over of bad blood between RSA and former Tamworth Speedway promoter Wide Eyes Promotions, resulting in the later closing its doors.
Towers, who wants to be the new Tamworth Speedway promoter, said what occurred between him and RSA was a necessary clearing of the air.
RSA president Adam Parker - whom both Towers and Wide Open Promotions were at loggerheads with - was not involved in this week's meeting.
Towers said that was a good thing, as he did not believe the outcome would have been the same had Parker been involved.
He said the resolution was for the "betterment of the sport".
"It was just something that had to be brought to a head to get resolved," he said.
"It was the thing to make us start talking, I suppose," he added.
"The reality is, the current president of the thing [RSA] just makes it hard."
Parker told the Leader last week that Towers was difficult to work with.
But on Wednesday he said "we've always been happy to work with Barry", and "moving forward there will be [RSA] racing at Gunnedah and Tamworth".
Both Towers and Parker said a new promoter would step in to fill the void left by Wide Open Promotions' departure.
In a Facebook post last week, the Gesell family, who had operated Wide Open Promotions, said that after "being threatened by the President of RSA to cancel [the] registration of any and all RSA cars that attend our track ... we are pulling away from RSA and anything to do with them at this point in time".
In response, Parker said he gave the Gesells a chance to work productively with RSA and when that failed, he was left with no option but to threaten to deregister drivers.
