[Updated]
The final 2019 Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix race today was cancelled after a major crash pile-up at Police, with the competition’s organisation revealing that the race will not be restarted and there will be no winner this year.
“Regulations stipulate that for a Grand Prix to be run in its entirety it has to have a minimum of three laps. Since the race was red-flagged during lap two, counting back so that the riders only did one full lap, it means the 2019 Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix was declared null and void. It has been canceled. There is not a result […] There will be no podium” a representative from the organisation informed after the race gor suspended.
The final race of the day started at 3:55pm, with Peter Hickman – last year’s winner – having a strong start, followed by Michael Rutter and Ian Johnson.
However, right during the very first lap, Portuguese rider Andre Pires crashed at the Melco Hairpin.
A red flag was then raised as British rider Rob Hodson also crashed with Czech rider Marek Červený at Solitude “Esses”. Both riders fortunately did not sustain injuries and returned on their motorcycles from the scene of the incident.
The race restarted after almost half an hour, with Michael Rutter using the opportunity to jump to first.
He was almost immediately overtaken by Peter Hickman though, but that lap later cancelled after the Police bend crash, which involved six riders, namely Dutch rider Didier Grams, Irish rider Michael Sweeney, British rider Philip Crowe, Canadian rider Dan Kruger, Finnish rider Erno Kostamo, and Irish rider Derek Sheils.
Luckily no rider suffered life-threatening injuries, although the last three riders were taken to the hospital for further assessment. All three were conscious when they were taken from the circuit.
“There are two reasons why the race will not be restarted tomorrow. Firstly the scheduling is too difficult, and secondly, all the teams have used their tire allocation. They have no tires left to use,” the organisation representative explained.
