Flying bike death sparks review

A motorbike that vaulted a fence, hit and killed a spectator has sparked a look at safety measures across the country.

Bruce Douglas Honore, 68, was struck while watching his grandson race at Cambridge Motorcycle Club in May 2016.

A hairpin corner at the club has since been reworked, and Honore’s death has prompted motorsport groups to work together on track design and safety.

The coroner’s findings into Honore’s death will be given to all Motorcycling NZ members to ‘‘highlight the need . . . to consider track design and the safety of spectators at organised events’’.

At the time of his death, Honore was standing on a grass strip between the junior track and the main motocross track.

Rider Aaron Jones was on the main track, approaching a hairpin bend which slows riders as they pass the lap scorers. He was thrown off his bike when his wheels hit an outer berm.

‘‘The motorcycle remained under power, picked up speed and continued over the edge of the track, becoming airborne and vaulting the fence,’’ Coroner Gordon Matenga wrote.

It hit Bruce Honore and two other spectators before landing on the nearby junior race track.

Honore was struck at head height and couldn’t be saved, despite swift medical attention. His wife, Merilyn, suffered concussion and ongoing issues and a third spectator, Bruce Parkes, was hit in the shoulder.

The motorbike could only have followed that trajectory if the accelerator had jammed, Matenga wrote.

However, he didn’t have enough evidence to rule on how that happened.

‘‘Each person who attends a race meeting . . . must be responsible to look to their own safety and the safety of others in what is an inherently dangerous sport.’’ Coroner Gordon Matenga

Cambridge Motorcycle Club never thought a bike would get over the fence there, clerk of the course Alan Cushion said in evidence. ‘‘But it did, and we thought ‘Well, it can’t happen again’.’’

The club widened the corner, put an eight-foot deer fence around it, and added plastic barriers.

Parkes, whom the bike hit in the shoulder, told Matenga he would watch his grandsons from the same vantage point again.

Matenga was satisfied with the club’s changes, and Motorcycling NZ had also detailed steps taken to prevent any further spectator deaths.

They included meeting other motorsport groups about track safety, revising training on spectator management and safety, and looking at warning signage.

Matenga was satisfied lessons had been learned from Honore’s death but said some would take time to be implemented.

‘‘I also acknowledge that some attitudes of spectators will need to be adjusted before all of the safety messages are accepted. New signage, better trained officials and better designed tracks can only go so far,’’ he wrote. ‘‘Each person who attends a race meeting – be they rider, spectator, parent helper, official, or whatever their capacity – must each be responsible to look to their own safety and the safety of others in what is an inherently dangerous sport.’’

Honore’s family wanted design experts to be involved in track reviews.

There are no specialist track designers in New Zealand, a Motorcycling NZ submission said, but volunteers running clubs gain practical experience and can get qualifications to help run events.

‘‘[Motorcycling NZ] accepts that it needs to consider, provide leadership on and enforce track design issues and spectator management,’’ Matenga wrote.

A move to bring in a Motorsport Safety protocol across the industry is also under way.

Matenga extended his condolences to Honore’s family.