More then 24 hours after the deadly accident on Macedonian roads, Gumball 3000 finally announced the cancellation of this years rally. After the fatal accident on Macedonian roads yesterday afternoon Gumball 3000 tried to keep it quiet as much as possible, they kept the families of Marga and Vladimir, locals, fans, drivers and sponsors completely in the dark, it took massive negative publicity in the worldwide media for them to realise the coverup failed and there was nothing else left then to cancel the rally.
This totally ignorant behavior caused a lot of disbelieve and anger among the same families, locals, fans, drivers and sponsors resulting in a big anti-Gumball campaign. Sponsors took their websites down and removed all affiliation with Gumball 3000, locals expressed their anger in our comments and mailbox, fans discussed the events on virtually every forum and message board out there and drivers announced their immediate withdrawl. They had 9 years to prepare a scenario in case something like this happened, and they were well aware of the fact that it could. However their latest two press releases show they didn’t prepare and show that to Gumball 3000 it’s more important to cover their own ass then to tell the truth. Today Gumball 3000 also spoiled it for other rally events that run with the best intentions. We like to stress that we still support the other events on this site and their organisers, it shows that a good organization that takes responsibility and does all it can to ensure safety of participants and bystanders is absolutely crucial to organize a succesful event.
Our Gumball 3000 coverage ends here…
We share our deepest sympaties with Margarita’s & Vladimir’s family.
Issued by Maximillion Cooper on behalf of The Gumball 3000 Rally – 22.30 CET / 03 May 2007
Following our earlier release reporting yesterday’s accident – As a sign of respect we have decided that this year’s Gumball 3000 Rally will not travel any further and will end in Bratislava this evening, May 3rd 2007.
As the organisers of the rally we feel that it should be stopped as a mark of respect to Vladimir Cepulyoski who died today after an accident involving one the participating drivers.
We are very saddened by what has happened and feel that it would be wrong to continue. On behalf of Gumball 3000, we once again extend our deepest sympathies to his family and we are doing everything we can for them.
This is the first time anything like this has happened in 9 years of travelling through over 40 countries with 1000’s of drivers and it is with deep regret that I make this announcement.
Maximillion Cooper
