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Bike racing boss David Jones has issued a public apology for his role in the row between bikers and Government paving the way for the motorsports park to be re-opened.

Jones said he was sorry to sponsors, fans and Government, for his actions, which led to the Department of Youth and Sport closing the track to spectators for the past two months.

Racing will return to the Clearwater track on Sunday.

Jones fell foul of Government officials when he moved a new set of bleachers for fans into place without their permission. Youth and Sport say the bleachers were not properly assembled and they were waiting for parts from overseas before getting their own staff on the job.

They said Jones' DIY job of putting the stand together himself put fans at risk and closed down the park until the parts arrived. That happened last week and the new seating is expected to be in place for the resumption of racing on Sunday.

Jones said he was sorry for the trouble his action had caused.

"I just want to apologise personally to the Bermuda Motorcycle Racing Club members, our sponsors, the Government and most of all the fans for my part in all of this.

"Ultimately it is race fans that have lost out because of this and I hope we can all learn from it and move forward and build up motorsports here on the island."

Racing on Sunday

Paul DeCouto, public relations officer for the club, said racing would resume on Sunday.

"It was the right thing to do for David to accept responsibility and hopefully now we can get back to racing," said DeCouto, the defending 600cc Superbike champion.

The Bermuda Motorcycle Racing Club hopes to run three races, instead of two, in each class for the next few weeks to help make up for the three race days that were lost because of the stand-off over seating.

Details of Sunday's race-day, tentatively scheduled for a 2pm start, will be confirmed on Friday.

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