A little over two months from the 2011 Cemetery Circuit motor-cycle meeting, this year's organiser Alan Willacy is happy with the entries so far and hopes he's close to landing big Italian fish Davide Gozzinni for a third meeting.
The Italian, No1 Motard rider in the world last year, is riding for a different team this year - the KTM as against the TM team last year and it's a matter of tying up details to have him mount his thrill-a-second action for the likely 10 to 12,000 crowd at the Suzuki NZ-sponsored meeting on December 26.
Entries for the meeting so far are around the same as at the same time in recent years - "about 60-70, about normal. Total entries last year were 190 but motorbikers leave everything to the last minute," said Willacy yesterday.
"We're still getting four to five a day."
Confirmed riders for the Robert Holden/formula one so far include Kiwis Andrew Stroud, Sloan Frost, Hayden Fitzgerald, Glenn Skatchill, Dennis Charlett and Nick Cole, with last year's winner Dan Stauffer likely to be confirmed in the next day or two.
Brian Bernard Racing Yamaha rider Stauffer produced an astonishing late move to beat Andrew Stroud in last year's race.
The interesting factor about this year's Cemetery Circuit is whether long-time Wanganui specialist Craig Shirriffs will be riding at all - nothing has apparently been confirmed yet.
Robbie Bugden, the Australian star who unfortunately broke a leg at the Cemetery Circuit last year, will be riding in the three-leg Suzuki Tri-Series, but his ambition for Wanganui is unknown at this stage.
Bugden had not been all that keen to ride at Wanganui for several seasons and his accident happened when he finally did.
"But I can't imagine him not riding if he's one or two in the Tri-Series when the Wanganui leg comes up," said Willacy.
The first leg of the Tri-Series is at Hampton Downs (Auckland) on December 9-10, and the second at Manfeild on December 16-17. The Cemetery Circuit is the third leg.
Willacy said the Cemetery Circuit costs $140,000 to run, with payments of around $130,000 to local businesses, schools and sports for set-up and running costs.
A feature of last year's promotion was the selling of 10,000 early bird tickets out of the final crowd of around 12,000.
This year that capacity remains, with early bird tickets at $20 ($30 after December 1), and a $55 for a super pass to be housed along the back straight.
Early bird tickets can be purchased only on the website - Cemeterycircuit.co.nz.
Footnote: One class has been dropped this year - the Motard open class, taking the number of races from 19 to 18.
And the feature Robert Holden event will be raced between 2-3pm, unless there is a major problem on the day. Willacy says organisers have been mindful of a fall-off of spectators after 3pm.