The presence of the animals on the track was a topic of discussion yesterday during a meeting of the Safety Commission, following the numerous incidents with wild animals that occurred at Phillip Island. Aleix Espargaro narrowly avoided colliding with a wallaby in the first free practice session, while the Cape Barren geese that populate Phillip Island caused problems in several categories this weekend.
According to Alex Rins, the height of the fences that delimit the circuit should be revised to improve the protection of the drivers. “We already spoke yesterday in the Safety Commission about the need to improve the fences,” he said after today’s qualifying, “because if we hit a wallaby it could be very dangerous for the animal and for us as well. I’m looking at this fence on the straight and it’s not that high. “
For his part, Aleix Espargaro called the accident with the wallaby “unacceptable”, even though he admitted that trying to keep the birds out of the circuit will never be possible. “At the start of the meeting everyone was laughing. But they understood that it was a very important thing in terms of safety,” said Espargaro. “For me it is unacceptable, it was very dangerous. Let’s see if they can improve. We asked them to close the runway a little better. Nothing can be done for the birds. Birds can happen. But wallabies don’t have to. If I had caught it yesterday, I was going at 220 km / h and it would be a big, big, big accident. “
Aleix and the kangaroo
Home rider Jack Miller said he understood the drivers’ safety concerns, but said the wallaby seen in FP1 is unlikely to have entered the circuit after the start of the Grand Prix weekend. It is more likely that the wallaby already lived on the circuit and was frightened by the MotoGP bikes.
“Don’t get me wrong, it is very dangerous to have kangaroos and anything else hopping in the middle of a track when going 350km / h,” he said when questioned about the matter by Motorsport.com. But as I said yesterday in the Safety Commission, I understand that there isn’t a two-meter fence around this place, but that kangaroo didn’t get in that easily. “
“I would say it was hidden somewhere and the noise of these 300 horsepower bikes starting to turn scared him. It’s not nice to have animals on the track, but in the end what can you do about it? I’m sure it’s not there now. it’s nothing that can go beyond the fences, because these are full of people. I don’t think it’s too big a problem “.
When asked if the Safety Commission had proposed any solutions, Miller reiterated that the matter is largely unsolvable. “Ultimately, when you have a trail in an iconic place like this, you will always have a problem with wildlife,” he said. “Whether it’s seagulls or any other bird, the problem will always be there. What do we have to do? Exterminate the whole island? Everyone knows that when you come to Australia there is wildlife. Just drive on a highway and watch the animals killed on the roads. There are many animals and few people here. It’s unlike anywhere else in the world. “
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