Road racing fans, we have some bad but unsurprising news for you. Remember the Isle of Wight Diamond Races? Unless you’re a time-traveler, you can’t possibly remember the inaugural event because it hasn’t happened yet. However, organizers announced back in July, 2020 that the Diamond Races would be coming in 2021.
When the Diamond Races were announced, both racers and fans alike were still getting over the sting of the 2020 Isle of Man TT being canceled due to COVID-19. It was safe to be optimistic about the Isle of Wight’s chances, wasn’t it? After all, that was 2020. By contrast, this little road race would be ages away, in 2021.
Hindsight is always 2020, and if organizers knew then what they know now, perhaps they would have kept a lid on that announcement for a little while longer. In the time since, the 2021 Isle of Man TT was also canceled. While the Isle of Wight Diamond Races event wasn’t originally going to take place until October, 2021, organizers are already postponing it to sometime in 2022 as of February.
More Racing News:
The reason, quite naturally, is that things are so uncertain with regard to the COVID situation. Vaccinations are rolling out, and jabs are getting into arms, but the overall situation is still more up in the air than anyone would like. Diamond Races organizers did not announce a time frame for the postponed event to take place in 2022, but hopefully those details will become clearer in the not-too-distant future.
The original plan for the Diamond Races was to take place on a gorgeous 12.4-mile road course, offering superbike, supersport, and lightweight supertwin races, as well as sidecar racing. Two practice days would be held on Wednesday and Thursday of the event, with the actual racing all taking place on Saturday. Should the Diamond Races materialize in 2022, it’s unclear whether any aspects of this scheduling may change. Here’s hoping for a brighter future in 2022.
Sources: News Letter, BBC