BY OLIVIA DILLON

The Mayor of Cessnock will take his bid for the city to host the Supercars in the future to tonight’s council meeting. 

He’s calling for council to formally start discussions with the Minister for Jobs and Tourism, Destinations NSW, and Supercars about the proposed Wine Country 500. 

Jay Suvaal says he believes people would like to see the event stay in the region, if it won’t disrupt businesses or local residents. 

“We’ve got a huge amount of motorsport fans right across the Hunter region and up here in the Cessnock Local Government Area. We’re a world-class tourism destination with plenty of accommodation, and I would love to see the event maintained in the Hunter region to support them,” he said. 

“I think we we need to make sure that we learn from the experiences in Newcastle and make sure the bump-in/bump-out that does affect residents and businesses, isn’t replicated in our area, and I think we can do that well here.” 

City of Newcastle has voted to support the Wine Country 500, despite the fact talks about the event’s future in Newcastle are reportedly still underway.