Mallala Motorsport Park will host exciting grassroots motorsport this weekend for the Marque Sports Car Association of SA’s SuperSprint, in what will be the club’s first event for the year.

 

Despite event restrictions recently being put in place due to the evolving situation of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the club has had drivers from around the state enter the first round of the series. The event will run in line with government restrictions around public gatherings.

 

During the event, drivers will get four sessions in a variety of groups, each of which will be consisting of competitors completing five laps of the South Australian circuit.

 

For event organiser Adrian Flynn, it was no surprise there were interested people wanting to get behind the wheel due to the uncertainty of what’s to come in the future.

 

“Our first sprint for the year is always popular… and we have a full field. A lot of people are really keen to do it,” Flynn said.

  

“We’re excited to still run this weekend’s event and will do our upmost best to keep people at the appropriate distance from each other.

 

“We had a meeting to discuss ways to minimise the risks, which included a few changes surrounding the event, as well as dropping the come and try aspect of the event as a lot of people would be sharing the same car.

 

“We feel it’s important to do this event because it’s keeping people’s spirits high. People have been asking the question on whether it will be our last event for the year and while it may well be, we want people to enjoy this event and have a good time as we don’t know what the future holds.”

 

The club is taking the responsibility for duty of care for its members seriously, having already begun implementing a number of a procedures to make sure all people knew what to expect.

 

The club has addressed every aspect of the event to look at where they can minimise human interaction, including sign on, drivers’ briefing, the paddock, race control and within the timing centre.

 

Constant communication has also been a major part of the event’s lead up, with all attendees been told to not attend if they are not feeling 100 percent.

 

With careful measures all in place, Flynn was confident the event would run smoothly as most competitors were regulars and were fully aware of the event’s new protocols. 

 

“Some of the precautions this weekend will be having drivers showing their licences and giving their documentation in a spaced out and orderly fashion, as well as having skeleton crews in both the timing centre and race control throughout the day,” Flynn explained.

 

“As for the drivers’ briefing, most people have done this event before so we will most likely send notes beforehand as they know what’s going on. We will also do drivers’ briefing over the PA and keep it as brief as possible – as long as people keep their distance.

 

“It’s a delicate situation and we’re fortunate enough to be in a position to be running an event and having people who want to be a part of it, so we want to make sure no one is at risk.

 

“We’re going to ride it out for the event runs and we will hopefully hit the ground running when things ramp back up again. We may lose a lot of events, which is disappointing, but at the end of the day, health and safety comes first and I’d rather be disappointed than sick. So we’re staying positive.”