2023 AMA Land Speed Grand Championship Canceled
Just five days before it was due to formally get under way (August 27th) the AMA was forced to announce cancelation of this year's annual AMA Land Speed Grand Championship - due to significant rain on Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats.
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| Among the hopefuls, multi-time record holder Denis Manning was hoping to take 'Lucky 7' back to the salt to see if his rebuilt "Big Bang V4" could retake the record with Chris Rivas at the controls. |
The 2023 AMA Land Speed Grand Championship, along with the FIM Land Speed World Records, was cancelled due to the remnants of Hurricane Hilary and related storm systems delivering significant rain on August 21.
"We're disappointed that we'll be unable to run the AMA Land Speed Grand Championship this year," said AMA Track Racing Manager Ken Saillant. "We always enjoy holding this event and it's unfortunate the weather once again didn't cooperate with our best efforts to run a successful event."
Following powerful rainstorms in the area during the past week, and with even more impending rain on the way, the event assessment team - led by Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials promoter Delvene Reber - determined that all track locations and alternatives would not be safe for competition.
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| Denis Manning founded the event that went on to become the AMA Land Speed Record Grand Championship in 2004. This is the second consecutive year it has been cancelled |
"We put it all on the line every year," Reber said, "and after the 2022 cancellation we were looking forward to an exceptional race surface and return of our amazing participants to twist the throttle and add their name to the record books. It is surprising and heart wrenching to be cancelling due to the impacts from Hurricane Hilary. We know that everyone wants an exceptional experience, and we are looking forward to next year when we can bring world class motorcycle land speed racing back to the Bonneville Salt Flats."
Reber added that the BMST will be in touch with participants soon with further information. Additional updates will be provided on the event website at Bonnevillemst.com.