A Sad Day at the Track

Usually, the atmosphere at a track day at Barbagallo is electric. Everyone's buzzing, bikes are being taped up, people walking around in leathers, talking about tyre pressures, racing lines, new additions to their bikes. Sunday started like that, however it did not finish that way...

Robin was riding at the Trakdayz course in group 3, a ticket he picked up last minute. He had all the camera gear set up on the bike and he had been preparing for it for days. I was taking photographs for the first time, had the hat on, the 75-300mm lens, access to the track. It was interesting being in there amongst the noise rather than making it. Even more interesting was how hard it was to take good photos with a Digital SLR camera.




Unfortunately the day ended around lunchtime when the news had broken that two riders in Level 1 had an incident in turn 1. One rider on a Ducati (Carl) had crashed in the corner, and another on an R1 (Chris) who had been following had ridden into the crashed rider. The Ducati rider then passed away at the track later in the day, as a result of a heart attack. This tragic accident had stunned all riders and spectactors.

As my friend Stephan said;

I hope the roads are long and twisty for you in heaven... I bet there was a Duc warmed up at the pearly gates for you.

Rest In Peace Carl.