News 28 Jul 2019

Moree Hospital overload causes early MX Nationals cancellation

Rider safety takes precedence following opening motos of round eight.

Image: Foremost Media.

The penultimate stop of the 2019 Pirelli MX Nationals calendar at Moree has been called early following the opening motos due to the current lack of medical services available in the area.

The opening MX1, MX2 and MXD motos had been contested with a share of incidents throughout, however, local demands in the region have attributed to the overload.

Those circumstances have prompted championship organisers to make the decision of cancelling the remainder of the round in regional New South Wales.

“Unfortunately being out in regional New South Wales this weekend, it’s not a very big hospital and their demand around the community increased today so they have unfortunately run out of beds,” Williams Event Management’s Kevin Williams commented.

“We have an ambulance sitting here, but their ability at the hospital to provide further medical services in the need of an emergency is almost at zero – it could be up to a two or three-hour wait. We’re not prepared to put any competitor’s life at that risk.

“It was a no-brainer because all of the championship races have done one moto, so everybody is leaving here for the rest of the afternoon safe and we’re not got to put anybody’s well-being at risk by not being able to provide the level of services that we expect to have everywhere.”

It’s the second time this season that a round has been cut short, as Appin’s opening event was called following the first motos due to the torrential rain on that occasion.

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