Mid-Antrim 150 future in jeopardy after saboteur strike

Saboteurs who caused the Mid-Antrim 150 to be cancelled over the weekend seem to have won the battle over the use of the Clough track.

Clerk of the Course Davy McCartney has announced that holding the Irish national meeting at the 3.5-mile venue was no longer an option.

It follows the deliberate spillage of oil, nails and glass on the Friday night prior to Saturday’s racing which has the police appealing for information leading to their questioning of those responsible for the races being cancelled.

It is the second time the Mid-Antrim has been cancelled due to the deliberate depositing of oil, the first being in 2011.

The sabotage followed a decision by the Mid-Antrim club to go ahead with a revival of the national meeting, not held since 2016, in spite of calls by some to abandon or postpone following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Appealing for for information for what they considered was an act of sabotage a police statement said on Saturday:”Police in Ballymena received a report in the early hours of Saturday morning that glass, nails and oil had been deliberately spilled on Drumagrove Road, Cloughwater Road and Dunbrought Road. Efforts are going on to clean these roads.”

Unfortunately, it was not enough and the mid-Antrim Club had to cancel the event, which may lead to the end of the Clough course as a racing circuit.

Irish road racing veteran Mick Chatterton commented: “I and a lot of others don’t believe it had anything to do with Queen Elizabeth. It has happened before. It is a great pity because this course is one of the best.”