FEATURE
MACAU GRAND PRIX
P86
to race in a predominately car
racing event, Carlos answered
after a long pause, "They are
very popular. It's a different kind
of race. Personally, I thought at
one point in 2010 the motorbike
race should stop. We had a big
crash in 2005 where the rider
passed away, Frenchman Bruno
Bonhuil. It's a small town, so
anything bad that happens is a
bad image for Macau. Then in
2011, something happened. The
man who organized this event for
32 years, Mike Trimby (founder
and CEO of MotoGP's IRTA—In-
ternational Road Racing Teams
Association), stopped his job in
Macau. And I told the president
of our federation, 'We cannot
stop like this. We've got to carry
on and stop sometime in the
future.' So we start to organize
the event differently.
"Many riders who used to come
before, maybe 15-20 were very
good and the rest were just filling
the gap. So we decided to cut our
entry list to 32 maximum riders
and now we try to select the very
best riders from around the world.
I see the motorcycle GP continu-
ing on for some years, I really do."
I asked for his lowest recol-
lection of the event, to which
he replied, "Of course the three
fatalities. In 1995 there was a
Japanese rider who was near
the sea when we suddenly lost
him but his bike carried on down
the racetrack and through the
pit lane. We stopped the race;
he had fallen over the wall where
there was no fence at the time.
There are many rocks there
down by the water, and his head
hit one. Then Luis Carreira in
2012. Three, in a 50-year-old
race, plus two in the cars."
I was directly behind Luis'
fatal crash and I had to swerve
to miss his spinning motorcycle
engulfed in flames. I didn't have
the nerve to look directly at him
as I passed. A very sad memory.
When asked about insur-
ance concerns, Carlos said it is
difficult to secure insurance in
these days but one catastrophic
incident involving several riders
at once could bring the bike rac-
ing to a halt.
So in conclusion, with three
fatalities in 50 years there are
more dangerous road races in
the world.
I've kept coming back be-
Many riders graze their
shoulder along the Armco.
Sit back and watch this brilliant five-minute video of the world's best
street races from the 2016 Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix.
