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An Auckland coroner has warned Motorcycling NZ there are lessons to be learned from the death of a young sidecar racer and measures must be put in place to ensure a similar tragedy does not occur in the future.
The directive was given yesterday by coroner Murray Jamieson during the inquest into the death of 20-year-old university student Jack Thompson.
The young Waipu man died after the motorcycle sidecar he was a passenger in crashed into the Pukekohe Racecourse safety barrier at around 160km/h during the Road Race Championship in March.
Inspections by vehicle testers later revealed that while the sidecar met standard requirements, it contained a design flaw in the front suspension which might have contributed to the crash.
Mr Thompson suffered critical head and spinal injuries and died in Middlemore Hospital the day after the accident, surrounded by his family.
His parents, including his father John who was driving the motorcycle sidecar at the time of the crash, were too upset to attend the inquest into his death yesterday.
Three representatives from Motorcycling NZ, which carried out its own investigation, were present.
Addressing the representatives Mr Jamieson said: "This will be a difficult time for you because this is a tragedy which occurred in a sport which you all love and I'm sure you spent a great deal of time on."
While Mr Jamieson said no one went into any sport expecting serious injury or death, "there are a number of sports which pose risks" and in this case there were "some lessons to be learnt".
In response, Motorcycling NZ's president Sandra Perry said several recommendations had or were being implemented as a result of an internal investigation.
They included technical checks being carried out on all sidecars before a competition started and appointing a technical inspector to the 2008 NZ Road Race board.
Competitors building their own sidecars were also now advised on the Motorcycling NZ Website to contact the organisation's health and safety commissioner before starting the building process. No new competitors licences would be issued until it was clarified if the sidecar was new or homemade. "Motorcycling NZ has taken this issue as a very serious one and are doing whatever we can to rectify certain circumstances to ensure they don't happen again," said Ms Perry.
Mr Jamieson asked Ms Perry how she could guarantee someone wouldn't "drag a sidecar setup out of a shed and turn up at a meeting".
She replied saying "We have put in place systems where all sidecars will be checked."
Mr Jamieson said there would be very strong criticism directed at both Ms Perry and the industry if another death should occur in similar circumstances. He then directed Ms Perry to inform motorcycle clubs around the country of his ruling and new safety measures saying "We must get this right."
Ms Perry told the Herald after the inquest that Motorcycling NZ had "taken on the comments of the coroner".
She added that Mr Thompson's death was the first in the sport's history that was caused by a mechanical malfunction. About 50 people raced motorcycle sidecars around the country.
Mr Thompson and his father had been involved in motorsports for some time, with Mr Thompson snr racing motorbikes on various courses for about 30 years.
Ms Perry would not comment on whether Mr Thompson snr was still racing following his son's death.
