THE Motorcycle Racing Club of WA has cancelled another three events — including this year’s first scheduled race meeting — at Barbagallo Raceway.
In a brief announcement this afternoon, MCRCWA said the scheduled coaching, tuning and club race days for March 5, 11 and 12th had been cancelled “due to issues other than track inspections and approvals by Motorcycling Australia and the WA Sporting Car Club”.
The club encouraged members to renew their memberships despite the problems at the circuit, and said there would still be five State round this year. The announcement did not say whether the club intended to stage those events at Barbagallo.
There has been no motorcycle activity at Barbagallo since November 10 last year when circuit operator, the WA Sporting Car Club, banned bikes after the release of a report into safety. The report, commissioned by WA’s Department of Sport and Recreation, said there were multiple instances where the circuit did not comply with motorcycle racing industry safety guidelines.
BACKGROUND: Two riders died in separate incidents at the circuit in 2016. In May, Daniel Chadbund, 28, was killed when he was thrown from his bike and struck a tyre wall during the opening round of the 2016 State Road Racing Championships. Then in November, Chris Adley, 21, fell off his bike and was run over by the rider behind him during a race at the Kings of Wanneroo event. The two deaths took to six the number of fatalities at Barbagallo in 16 years.
Work at the track in response to the report has included the extension of a wall of tyres at the track’s seventh corner, where Daniel Chadbund crashed.
In his report into safety at the circuit, engineer Chris Hall said the circuit was associated with “a significant number of critical risk items” that rendered it “unsafe for motorcycle racing due to an unacceptable risk of serious injury”.
Mr Hall identified several corners which he said had insufficient run offs.
