Victorian Government told it must step in to save MotoGP round
Political pressure is rapidly building on the Victorian Government to intervene and save the Phillip Island round of MotoGP.The local National Party member Melina Bath has demanded the government take “immediate action” on this issue, which is shaping up to have a major effect on Victoria’s tourist economy.
Bath is a powerful voice for the Eastern Victoria region, who as recently as last November flagged another major issue with Phillip Island being the main access road.
In a question in State Parliament, she asked the Minister for Road and Road Safety: “Despite years of safety concerns and community advocacy, the government has failed to fund critical upgrades to Phillip Island Road in San Remo. The road is known for frequent crashes, near misses and worsening congestion, especially during weekends and holidays, posing a serious risk to the lives of tourists and locals alike. It is listed among the RACV’s top 12 worst roads. It is on Bass Coast shire’s top priority list and in One Gippsland’s regional campaign. The project is shovel ready – consultation occurred over a decade ago – and it is vital.”
So it’s not just the iconic Island circuit that’s lacking State Government support, and this adds another layer to the desperate fight by locals to keep an event that brings in as much as $60m to Victoria’s economy each year.
As we reported in our last issue, a general lethargy on the part of major movers-and-shakers as to the future of the Phillip Island circuit and its long-term MotoGP contract, which expires late this year, is coming back to bite big-time.
While Victoria’s Labor Government has not issued any meaningful statement of intent to secure an extension of the 10-year contract for the Australian round, South Australia’s Labor Government has declared its backing of any effort made to get the round there.
Significantly, SA Premier Peter Malinauskas has clarified that it would be The Bend, not a street circuit, that would host a MotoGP race, and that negotiations would be led by the Shahin family.
This statement came in the face of speculation that either Melbourne’s Albert Park or Adelaide’s old F1 car circuit in the Parklands were Dorna’s favoured new options for Australia’s MotoGP round.
The Shahin family, which owns the Tailem Bend racing complex, is cashed up after selling its On The Run network of fuel/mini-supermarket outlets to Shell and able to play a significant role in any attempt to secure a MotoGP round in Australia.
There are even rumours circulating around their true intent, including a suggestion they may actually buy the Island circuit off owners the Fox family.
It was the Malinauskas Labor government that revived the Adelaide Supercars race in the city’s Parklands after the previous Liberal government axed it. The last round of the Supercars achieved a record attendance of any Australian sporting event. While this was largely based on the event also hosting the SA concert of AC/DC, it demonstrated how the present government can think outside the box to get fans to a motorsport event that the previous government thought was not worth the effort.
This attitude may very well get SA across the line, with the ongoing tangle of negotiations involving Dorna’s new owners Liberty Media, which is looking for innovative race promoters.
Both Victoria and SA are in election years. Victoria is cash-strapped and facing several crisis, including a potential voter revolt over a perceived shortfall in funding to the volunteer fire brigades that risked everything in the recent devastating bushfires.
SA, a motorsport-mad state, is riding a wave of popularity among many Labor voters for re-energising the state’s heritage of motorsport, dating back to the days when a bold bid by then-Labor premier John Bannon and engineer Bob Barnard convinced Bernie Ecclestone to bring F1 cars to Australia for the first time and on a street circuit.
Barnard, the chief engineer for the inaugural Adelaide GP, delivered the Adelaide circuit from concept to completion in less than a year. He went on to redevelop the rundown Phillip Island circuit to motorcycle GP reality in the late 1980s, then designed and delivered Sydney’s Eastern Creek circuit to GP standard within 12 months. He was also involved in bringing California’s Laguna Seca circuit up to world standard to host the 1993 round of GP500.
Obviously, achievements like this are not an option in the current situation.However, Barnard’s accomplishments, backed by governments committed to a sporting event, shows what can be achieved in a short time. Financial and engineering skills need to be backed by committed government involvement.
There are several Asia-Pacific options for the new rulers of MotoGP, so this saga has a long way to play out. But it’s obvious that time is running out for Australia.
