Fast and furious: Red Bull still owes for racing event, flying club claims

UPDATE: Nearly eight hours after this story was published Friday, the Rockcliffe Flying Club received a cheque for the full amount owed.

Sevenmonths afterRed Bull Global Rallycrossleft Ottawa, the Rockcliffe Flying Club, one of the hosts,says itstill hasn't been paid $20,000.

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Incredibly frustrating. For a small not-for-profit like us, [it's] ahuge hit to our ability to pay our staff.- Chris Ricci, GM & Chief Flight Instructor at Rockcliffe Flying Club

"Incredibly frustrating," said ChrisRicci, general manager and chief flight instructor. "For a small not-for-profit like us, [it's] ahuge hit to our ability to pay our staff."

The race car series featuring Supercardrivers from around the world drew thousand of spectatorsto the Canada Aviation and Space Museum this past June for two days of racing.The event was promoted as an Ottawa 2017signature event.

TheRockcliffeflying club shut down its runway its main source of income for five days so that the seriescould make its Canadian debut.

Staff were paid overtime to relocate planes and take down signsand lighting to accommodate the event's racetrack, stands and vehicles, he said.

"At the end of the day, [we] received absolutely nothing for it," saidRicci."In fact, we lost five days worth of revenue."

The club expected to be paid before the Rallycross organizers started setting up the track, Riccisaid. But workers with the series arrived days early without notice and started work.

When the event wrapped up, organizers leftand still hadn't paid the bill, according to Ricci.

For the past seven months the flying club has been hounding Red Bull and organizers of the Global Rallycross(GRC)to pay up. But Riccisaid they hasn't received as much as a phone call or email back saying when that might happen.

Cheque sent after six months, company says

It wasn't until after CBC News contacted GRCon Thursday that Riccisaid he finally heard from the company.

Chip Pankow, GlobalRallycross's founder and chief operating officer, told CBCNews in an email the company settled the billin January.

"Rockcliffe was sent a chequeearlier this month," Pankowwrote.

But Riccitold Global RallycrossThursday thatstaff with the Rockcliffe Flying Club have been checking the mail dailyand never received that envelope.

Hours later,GRCsaid they looked into the matter further and saidthe Jan 4. cheque was apparentlynever received.

The company said it is now cancelling that cheque and would re-issue a new one and send it out "immediately."

Ricciremains unimpressed.

"It's abit surprisingand convenientthat a few minutes afterthey are contacted by a reporter that suddenly there's a cheque in the mail," Riccisaid.

GRC did not respond to CBC's questions aboutwhy it took the company more than six months to settle the bill and why it had not responded to the flying club before Thursday.

Suppliers are getting paid, says Ottawa 2017 head

The head of Ottawa 2017, Guy Laflamme,said he heard about the flying club's issue a month ago and was assured by Red Bull that "they were getting this resolved."

He said he isnot aware of any other vendors not being paid.

"All our suppliers with justified invoices have been paid diligently," Laflammewrote in an email to CBC News.

Steve Ball, a co-chair with Ottawa 2017's board of directors, said there are talks in the works to have a number of events from 2017 return in 2018, including the Global RallycrossRace.