Apparent verbal abuse of St. John Ambulance Brigade personnel led to the cancellation of yesterday's motocross racing at Coney Island - with only two of 15 races completed.

The volunteer medical unit left the meet after parents of a young rider injured in a crash in the second race allegedly cursed members of the emergency team for not attending to their son.

However, president of the Bermuda Motocross Club Ashley Simmons indicated that "we had an unusual number of spills which meant that the St. John Ambulance (Brigade) were working constantly" and were treating another rider when they were accosted by the irate parents.

Under race regulations, the departure of the ambulance crew meant that racing could not continue.

"It was cancelled after they left the meet because we can't race without an ambulance there for safety," explained Simmons, adding that none of the injuries were serious.

While declining to divulge details of what occurred pending an investigation by the club's disciplinary committee, the motocross boss expressed disgust over the incident and pledged the appropriate punishment would be meted out if anyone was deemed guilty.

"We are gathering facts to determine what we are going to do and that's as far as I can go right now. We had different officials who were on the track and saw what happened - marshals and people like that - so we're getting the facts from them.

"We in the Bermuda Motocross Club are totally indebted to the St. John Ambulance Brigade as are all sports in Bermuda. We are saddened, upset and angry that anybody would do anything against an organisation such as St. John's and we are sorry for what happened.

"I can say categorically that, when the facts are in, the person or persons will be dealt with severely if it's merited."

Asked if this could mean expulsion for any club members, the president replied: "We have rules that deal with all of that, rules covering unfair practices on the track and also unfair practices off the track at our meets."

Simmons said the club's executive would meet on Wednesday to discuss the investigation's findings and determine any related punishment.

Racing is scheduled to take place again on December 8 but, the president noted, this would be "up in the air" depending on if the St. John Ambulance Brigade returned or not.

A question mark was also raised about this weekend's first-ever Bermuda Motocross Open to be held at Wellington Oval. However, organisers of that event are confident they will not suffer negatively from yesterday's incident and that the emergency unit will be present.

"It's a totally different event and we are not the Bermuda Motocross Club. In any case, I'll be calling them (St. John Ambulance Brigade) tomorrow (today) to verify that," said spokesman for the Motocross Open, Mike Jones.