By Ian Neubauer

The promoter of the $1.5-million Super X Australasian SuperCross Championship has denied widespread reports that the event had been cancelled, saying it would go ahead “by nook or by crook”.

The Daily Telegraph reported today (September 11) that Sydney’s Parramatta City Council had cancelled the event scheduled to take place at Parramatta Stadium on November 8 following the submission of a small number of complaints relating to potential noise pollution.

But a spokesperson for promoter Global Action Sports (GAS) said 10,000 tickets had already been sold and the event would go ahead as scheduled.

“The event has not been cancelled. What has transpired is that the development approval to run the event has not been approved by Parramatta City Council,” said GAS spokesperson, Mal Peters.

“That is where we are at but we are confident we can resolve the issue with Council and have it overturned. We have commitments to networks and sponsors and a whole range of other people, so for us it is not an option to cancel.”

Peter said Council’s rejection was unreasonable as his company had agreed to close the event at 9:00pm — two hours earlier than rock concerts at Parramatta Stadium usually end. They had also agreed to cancel a practice session scheduled for Friday (November 7) to ensure “the good people of Parramatta” were not disturbed during working hours.

“We have compiled with noise regulations and everything else, so we can’t work out why they’ve done this.”

But Parramatta City Council denied it had rejected the development approval, saying the decision would be made by the NSW Minister for Sport and Recreation, Kevin Green.

“It’s not our decision, we just provide an assessment for the Minster,” said council spokesperson, Nick Pickard, adding that the assessment suggested the event should not go forward.

He said the assessment was critical because the promoter had failed to supply additional information requested by Council regarding potential noise pollution associated with the event.