Monster Truck & FMX Special Event in Mt Maunganui's Bay Park.
Video supplied / Christopher Graham
Organisers of a monster truck show promise a better event in Auckland this weekend - after a live show in Tauranga saw people leaving the arena before it had finished.
The Monster Truck & FMX Spectacular event will once again make an appearance at the Waikaraka Family Speedway in Onehungaon Saturday.
Tickets have already sold out to the event and organisers are promising great things for spectators, Waikaraka Family Speedway promoter Bruce Robertson said.
“The Monster Trucks say it will be a better show than Baypark [in Tauranga].”
It comes after members of the public took to social media in droves to share how upset and disappointed they were by the organisation of the event and the lack of X-factor.
Monster Truck show at the Bay Park Arena in Tauranga. Photo / Christopher Graham
One woman, Stacey Brayshaw, described saving and sacrificing for weeks to save enough money to pay for a family pass - almost $190 - for her son’s birthday.
“People started leaving like 30 to 45 minutes in. It was absolutely disgusting,” she said.
“We scraped and went without for our son to have a good birthday and we all walked away angry, upset and in complete disbelief.”
Robertson said promoters for the event said the biggest problem they faced at Tauranga was that the sound system had failed near the start of the show.
“At half-time, people got up and walked out thinking the show was over - and they had no way of telling them otherwise.”
Robertson said there was also supposed to be a crane drop - a vehicle being dropped to the ground from a height, by a crane - but that the grounds and speedway track had been too wet to drive the crane in.
Those who turn out to the Auckland event, however, will get to see a crane drop.
“Also, some of the FMX motocross equipment was stuck in Gisborne,” he said.
Some people who attended the show in Tauranga were commenting on the Auckland venue’ Facebook page - encouraging them not to go as they would be wasting their money.
The negative feedback was starting to sway at least a few people, who posted comments to the Auckland venue’s official Facebook page asking how they can get a refund.
Robertson said as far as he knew, there had not been any requests for a refund.
He thought another part of the problem could have been that people had been expecting what he described as a US-style smash ‘em up and roll them over type of show.
“Whereas this Monster truck show is targeting 4- to 12-year-old audience.
