Protesters try to stall Australia’s MotoGP as the clock ticks down to 2027
Six months after the South Australian Government announced it has secured the Australian MotoGP round from Victoria the state is in dispute about whether it actually wants the event.
The level of protest keeps rising, fuelled largely by public campaigns based on speculation, not fact. The problem is that the government appears to have pulled down a cone of silence over information about exactly how the circuit and associated infrastructure will be built by November 2027 for the inaugural race.
For the past six months the only time Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas has spoken about the event is to criticise opponents, especially Adelaide’s Lord Mayor. As we reported in late June, he hit back at Jane Lomax-Smith, who was a Labor minister before her mayoral role, when she questioned if “the pain was worth the gain”. He claimed members of the council were trying to “undermine the event”.
Undeterred, Lomax-Smith said this week that the new circuit would “irrevocably and permanently” change the parklands.
The final FIM-approved layout has yet to be announced but a public rally has been organised this weekend with protesters planning to march from the city centre to the proposed MotoGP parklands site.
Considering the track layout is being designed on computer using virtual reality scenarios to manage the risk factors, not boffins with tape measures and a confused look when they approach a parklands tree, it’s hard to fathom why it has taken so long.
At the Silverstone MotoGP last weekend, Dorna Sports boss Carmelo Ezpeleta said the approved circuit layout would be revealed “in the next few weeks”. Meanwhile AMCN understands officials involved with the circuit design attended the Darwin round of Supercars in June to update teams on aspects of the project that will impact both their so-called Grand Final in November and their future on the new circuit.
AMCN approached the government for comment and was only told that an announcement was coming “soon” and that both the city council and “affected stakeholders” (ie sporting and social groups that use the parklands) would be consulted.
There is no doubt that the SA government is seriously committed to making the MotoGP round a success.
Already the SA Motorsport Board has appointed a heavy-hitter with an unrivalled level of experience in Judith Griggs. Her career in motorsport administration began as a junior member of the small team that secured the 1985 F1 race. Soon after she was head-hunted by F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, eventually helping him totally reorganise his global operation, before leading the team that created Melbourne’s Albert Park F1 event.
That race came very close last year to eclipsing the world record F1 attendance set at the final Adelaide race in 1995 and is the main reason MotoGP’s bosses wanted their race moved from Phillip Island to Albert Park.
Other recent appointments include Matt Ramsden, who leaves the Supercars Townsville operation to oversee operational aspects of the Adelaide MotoGP, and Simon Sharley as commercial sponsorship manager. Sharley played a major role in the commercial success of Adelaide’s LIV Golf round.
As protests continue over the contentious issue of tree removal to create the course, demonstrators are largely dancing with shadows because until the exact layout is revealed the trees can’t be counted accurately.
These protesters also ignore the fact that the Victoria Park venue for the MotoGP is an area that has never had significant conservation strategies in place. From 1840 until 2007 it was SA’s premier horse-racing venue, at one stage having Australia’s longest home straight. It still hosts the annual Adelaide Equestrian Festival, Australia’s only five-star event that includes dressage, cross-country and show-jumping with a record attendance last year. Then there are Supercars and the popular annual Motorsport Festival.
Meanwhile AMCN has approached the man who convinced Premier Malinauskas of the value of securing the MotoGP, Dr Sam Shahin, for comment on the task he has taken on regarding WorldSBK at The Bend Motorsport Park.
Busy in Europe and in the early stages of preparing his complex to host WorldSBK from 2028, he quickly cut to the chase: “There are mountains to climb. It’s a journey, one mile at a time. It is as equally exciting as it is at times overwhelming. Destiny likes effort, and I have put my heart and soul into this project. They say cowards never start, the weak never finish, and winners never quit. I appreciate that history will be the judge.”
History will also be the judge of Adelaide’s MotoGP as its organisers are finding it’s no problem to sell the event to the world; harder to sell it to locals.
Just after the MotoGP announcement in February AMCN published a major feature explaining how the event would be created and the implications of Adelaide hosting it. Nothing has happened since that makes this feature out of date.
https://amcn.com.au/editorial/breaking-down-the-reality-of-the-adelaide-motogp/
