The Malta Council for Sports in conjunction with the Malta Motorsport Federation (MMF) in collaboration with the Ministry for Gozo, the Parliamentary Secretariat for Youth and Sport, the Malta Tourism Authority, the Island Car Club and Valletta Grand Prix Foundation organised The Gozo Grand Sprint, which took place last Saturday and Sunday, the 20th and 21st of November.
The Ministry for Gozo said that the Gozo Grand Sprint 2010 was the first event to be held of its kind. The organisation of this event in Gozo was also an initiative to increase domestic tourism to Gozo especially in the relatively quiet months of the year.
This event attracted the participation of 83 drivers together with their teams. Many drivers were from Gozo and Malta, interest also came from Scotland. Two drivers from the field of motorsport in Sicily are also participated, Alessandro Modica and Alessio Cascone, along with hundreds of motorsport enthusiasts.
Before the race got underway a minute’s silence was observed as a tribute to Bishop Emeritus Nikol Cauchi, who passed away last week.
The Minister for Gozo, Giovanna Debono, explained how the Ministry for Gozo supported this event because it believed it had the potential to attract tourists from within the domestic market in what is normally considered to be a quiet period to spend some nights on the island of Gozo. The Minister went on to say that the event also offered an opportunity to advertise the Gozo touristic product in particular niches such as the field of sports tourism.
Figures issued by Gozo Channel showed that during the last weekend the company’s ships carried more than 32,500 passengers and more than 10,000 vehicles. Teh company said that this related to an increase of more than 4,500 passengers and 1,500 vehicles on figures recorded in the same days in 2009 or an increase of 16 and 17 percent respectively.
The Parliamentary Secretary, Clyde Puli, reiterated that more sports activities will be held in Gozo over the coming weeks, which will included the organisation of the International table football World Grand Master [1], which is taking place this coming weekend. He said that this is possible thanks to financial assistance which is being given by the Malta Sports Council to sports organizations enabling them to organize sports activities that generate internal tourism in Gozo.
The President of the MMF Mr. Tonio Cini thanked the government bodies, local councils and those who had assisted in any way to make the weekends event so successful.
The racing ended late on Sunday afternoon when the Minister for Gozo, Giovanna Debono, presented trophies to the winners. The over-all winner in the category of vintage vehicles was Martin Spiteri in an Austin Healey, while Zachary Zammit won the category of single seater modern vehicles. Trophies were also given to winners in each class as well as those drivers who had participated in competition racing car for the first time.
9 Comments To "A successful racing weekend for The Gozo Grand Sprint"
#1 Comment By M H On November 23, 2010 @ 7:45 am
whilst i am an avid follower of motor sport, the gozo grand sprint, come on ! what a rediculous weekend of traffic disruption to the island,
what i would like to know is, the cost of stageing the event ? extra police & wardens on duty, all day, for 2days, how much extra revenue did gozo gain from the event ?
now i suppose we will have the boy racers all thinking they are sprint drivers, as if we havnt got enough bad driving on our roads..
#2 Comment By Joe Frendo On November 23, 2010 @ 3:47 pm
Please note that since I am also an avid follower of motor sport, Police wardens and civil protection are all paid for their service so their families and even Gozo Channel employees have all gained extra money from Such event! .. Moreover an increase of 17% is very significant for this time of the year as that has in a way or another left cash in the local Gozo community too.
The least one should do is to appreciate that such events keep the economy moving and let’s not be Ebenezer Scrooge for once and open our minds to opportunities. I moved around the track with my car and there was never a total blockage of traffic, so let’s be realistic in our comments.
Well done to all involved it was a very well organised event. Looking forward for the next one!
#3 Comment By Dietmar Treptow On November 23, 2010 @ 4:36 pm
Shame of all the Sponsors!
The Big Main road closed for the weekend. Next time go somewhere and think before act!
Race and Chaos – fine !!!
#4 Comment By Peter On November 23, 2010 @ 6:18 pm
WELL DONE Malta Motorsport Federation (MMF) it was a great event which should repeated.
#5 Comment By Peter On November 23, 2010 @ 7:44 pm
VERY WELL SAID, JOE FRENDO.
#6 Comment By m h On November 23, 2010 @ 9:17 pm
sorry joe, you totaly missed where ime coming from here, the main arterial roads on the island, used for sprint racing, and who paid the wages of the police, civil protection & wardens ….. , us, the tax payers by any chance…
perhaps a rally stage around some of the lesser used roads on the island would have been more fitting, with the pot holes and unmade sections these would have been ideal for a rally stage,
the island is not large enough for this type of racing, motorcycle speedway or banger racing around the horse racing track would be a better propersition, half the vehicles on the road could enter the banger racing without incuring any expence or modification by the owners.
whilst i have every respect for the MMF in holding such events, malta is the larger island and has more location options for sprint racing
#7 Comment By Joe Frendo On November 23, 2010 @ 10:52 pm
m h or whoever you are, I am sorry to tell you but you ain’t no motor sport avid follower. as to organise a good Rally stage you need at least 15 kms of length. That means in Gozo you will surely touch several villages within the 15 kms stage and the local participants will be very minimal as from what I know, we barely have 15 Rally vehicles in Malta who are prepared to take part.
Secondly, the organisers paid the wages for the police, civil protection & wardens as I was one of them, We were extra on the day to assist the event, so for us it was an extra income from the organisers and not from the tax payers. So stop grumbling and check facts beforehand.
Malta has already another event similar but for classic vehicles and it’s called the Valletta Grand Prix. This should be the Gozo version but including modern cars and I believe it was successful as much as the Valletta one, or might I say more. With regards the closure of the main arterial on a weekend comment, that is a sic comment as what do you pretend, that is done during the week now?
#8 Comment By M H On November 24, 2010 @ 9:43 am
Well that is good news, that the organisers paid the costs of policing &marshaling the event,
where your sense of humor, the suggestion of a rally event was a tongue in cheek comment, about the state of 90% of the roads.
As for closing of the roads, I would prefer that the event was not held at all, like I said originally,
Gozo is not suited for such events…
I notice you make no comment about the possibility of banger racing on the racecourse or suitable field, maybe its not such a bad idea after all
#9 Comment By Peter On November 24, 2010 @ 8:37 pm
@ M H
Why Gozo is not suited for such events?
There are hundreds of Gozitan enthusiasts of motorsport.Secondly there is less traffic than Malta that’s why it was a great success to be organized on Gozitan roads.Did you ever see Monaco grand prix around the city which is smaller in area than Gozo?