SOUTH-WEST sprintcar drivers are content to wait on the sidelines after Premier Speedway scrapped its three pre-Christmas meetings due to coronavirus crowd limitations.
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Experienced Warrnambool pair Jamie Veal and Darren Mollenoyux and emerging Kirkstall competitor Brayden Cooley believe the Allansford club made a smart decision.
Premier Speedway could re-schedule the three meetings at a later date and has also flagged a decision on its famed Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, which runs across three nights in January, on October 20.
Cooley, 21, said "the committee has done a great job trying to make a plan".
He is busy building a second car, hopes to have a truck, which is coming from Sydney, arrive when the borders re-open and is "stocking up on spare parts".
"We're not going to do any practice days, we're going to wait it out," he said.
"We're keeping an eye on the cases in Victoria, hopefully they open the borders up soon.
"We obviously want to support Premier Speedway as much as we can as it's our home track. Hopefully it's good news in 2021.
"Hopefully for the young ones it's just something at the start of our career and hopefully once we get over this COVID stuff we can just move forward and enjoy ourselves again and go racing."
Former Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic champion Jamie Veal said the situation was beyond drivers' control.
"At the end of the day, there's still a lot to happen before we can go racing," he said.
"It's not worth getting excited or worried about, it is what it is. At the end of the day people in Melbourne can't even leave their house."
Veal said it was a smart call to wait given restrictions were far-reaching.
"In the bigger picture we can go racing if they want but there's a lot of teams in the Melbourne area, it's not just us regionally," he said.
"There's a lot of teams, officials and sponsors that are still in Melbourne."
Mollenoyux said the cancellation of races was "inevitable".
"With the government's plan on easing restrictions I guess everyone's hands are tied and until they can safely have crowds, you can't have speedway venues putting on racing," he said.
The Dickson Motorsport driver said the fate of the classic rested on things going Premier Speedway's way.
"It is up to Premier Speedway what they do and whether they have a race. It's too early to call while borders are closed and internationals can't get here," he said. "There are decisions to make and I feel it (the cancellation) is inevitable unless something changes in a hurry."
Mollenoyux said he would participate in practice meets pre-Christmas if they were offered.