THE HIGHLY anticipated Isle of Wight Road Races has been delayed and won't take place this April.

The motorcycling race event was due to go ahead in April but there have been unresolved issues with its Motor Race Order (MRO).

This is the permission needed to close public roads for motor sport and is essential for the event to go ahead.

Event promoter James Kaye said the order was submitted on time to the Isle of Wight Council but hadn't been determined and now time had run out.

The road races team said on their website they "have reluctantly accepted that the Isle of Wight Road Races now can’t go ahead on our planned dates this year".

They say they put in their Motor Race Order application on October 19.

They added: "We understand that there are some technical concerns, but this is out of our control and the clock has run down.”

The IWRR team said it will be looking to understand and resolve the problems highlighted by the Isle of Wight Council before negotiating new dates within the international road racing calendar.

An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson said: “The council had been awaiting further information from the Auto-Cycle Union (ACU) – the governing body for motorbike races — in order to progress the application but this was not received.

“This has meant that, as per the relevant legislation, the motor race application was not considered to be duly made and could not be considered by the council.  

“Further, it is unfortunate that the application was submitted on, or near, the latest possible date to meet statutory requirements which left no allowance for changes to the application documentation.”

The organisers said the event could have brought in the region of £30m of direct investment to the Island.

They said: "We would like to thank all the Isle of Wight Road Races fans and in particular the Island-based motorcycle clubs and the Facebook supporters group for their continued enthusiasm and encouragement.

"Especially those who had already looked to book travel and accommodation for April.

"We have received an enormous amount of positivity from across the whole Island, including many residents, landowners and businesses based in and around the circuit in Brighstone, Chale and Shorwell.

"We look forward to securing new dates for the Isle of Wight Road Races as soon as possible.”