News 18 Jan 2017

Upgrades made to Wakefield Park prior to 2017 season

Goulburn-based circuit undergoes safety improvements.

Image: Keith Muir.

Wakefield Park Raceway has completed further upgrades to the Goulburn circuit in a bid to further improve track safety, replacing the kerbs between turns four and seven at the beginning of January.

The project was wrapped up last week, updating and flattening the kerbs through the top section of the 2.2-kilometre layout, meeting current Motorcycling Australia (MA) track guidelines. The first ride day since the work will take place on Thursday.

“From our perspective, we had our annual track inspection completed in the mid- to latter-part of last year, to which there were some spots identified such as bad drop-offs and what would be considered safety issues for bikes and cars, but particularly bikes,” Wakefield Park Raceway operations manager Matt Baragwanath told CycleOnline.com.au.

“And if we wished to continue to have dual permitting here, then we really needed to do stuff that’s urgent and then there’s stuff that’s not so urgent. So what we’ve done is under the track safety guidelines put out by the sanctioning bodies – both MA and CAMS – there’s a prerequisite of what they would like as far as kerbs go these days.

Source: Supplied.

“Essentially, they’re exactly the same kerbs that are installed at the Albert Park grand prix circuit, so instead of having the old-style risen kerbs, you have flat kerbs with some sawtooth in it, which is what we’ve done.”

Baragwanath anticipates another strong response in the region when the ASBK series arrives for the 2017 season: “We’re working closely with the team at MA to put on a bigger and better event to what we did last year. We’re putting on some testing for the Superbikes in early March, exclusive for anyone involved in the round, and we’re excited to have the event back here again this year.”

Wakefield Park returned to the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) calendar last year and will host round two of the 2017 season on 17-19 March. It has also become one of the more popular testing venues for ASBK teams as a result.

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