Waikato man Bruce Honore wouldn't have seen the motorbike flying through the air before it fatally hit him in the head. Photo/Supplied
Waikato man Bruce Honore wouldn't have seen the motorbike flying through the air before it fatally hit him in the head. Photo/Supplied
A Waikato grandfather was standing with his back to the rider of a motocross bike who fell off his bike, which then flew through the air, hitting him in the head and killing him, an inquest has heard.
Bruce Douglas Honore, 68, and his wife Meri were watching their grandson compete on the junior section of a track at Cambridge Motorcycle Club on May 22 when the crash happened, a coroner's inquest heard in Hamilton today.
Waikato police serious crash unit Senior Constable Jeremy Newell told coroner Gordon Matenga that the motocross rider, 20-year-old Aaron Jones, had the previous week repaired a broken throttle cable with a mechanic friend at his home.
Newell said Jones had done four practice runs on the club's main race track without any issues with the new cable.
Jones was in seventh or eighth position on his second lap in the race when he approached the bottom of a steep hairpin corner.
He accelerated to get through the corner, but as he turned to the right, he came off and landed on the ground.
His bike continued, going up and over the steep berm, clearing the post-and-netting fence, and hit three spectators, including Honore and his wife.
Bruce and Meri Honore were watching their grandson in a motorbike race when Bruce was killed. Photo / Supplied
Bruce Honore suffered a fatal head injury and died at the scene. Meri Honore was taken to Waikato Hospital and the third spectator suffered a sore shoulder.
Matenga said how the motorbike got up and over the berm and cleared the fence would be a key issue.
The inquest heard races were being held at the same time on opposing tracks.
Newell said speed was not a factor in the crash and nor was the condition of the motorbike.
However the area where spectators were allowed to stand was.
Allowing spectators to stand at the top of the hill left them at risk of being hit by an object coming from the track.
An investigation was launched after the death at the Cambridge motocross track.
Spectators would have had "one to two seconds" to react if they were facing the track, Newell said.
Brett Harris, lawyer for both Motorcycle New Zealand and Cambridge Motorcycle Club, suggested it was highly unlikely that a motorbike could clear the fence without touching it, but Newell said as investigators were not watching at the time, he couldn't comment.
"The speed is very subjective unless you were there watching it."
Jones said he had bought the bike new and had not had any issues with it.
He said he fell off when the bike hit the berm of the track.
Siblings Steve and Tanya Honore believe race tracks have a responsibility to keep spectators safe after their father, Bruce, was hit by a flying motocross bike in May. Photo/Belinda Feek
"The next thing I remember I was laying there and my mate Andrew came and helped me. Then we walked over the berm to the pits and I could see the ambulance people working on a man, doing CPR."
Jones said he was unaware anyone else had been injured until spoken to by police at the scene.
"I can't explain what went wrong. It was just a freak thing. "I still believe there's nothing that I could have done differently to prevent what happened." Thirteen witnesses, including several family members, are due to give evidence in the inquest, which is set down for two days.
