June 1, Saturday, International Day for Protection of Children. I have finished photographing in the pits at the Porsche Ring circuit near Pärnu, selected some photos and uploaded them to the social media stories of the Estonian Circuit Racing Championship.
This evening and tomorrow is the first competition of the season, people are meeting friends who they haven’t seen through the winter, everyone is happy and anxious. Today is a training day for the big bikes, only street racers and classic racing bikes will compete in the evening. Vintage enthusiasts unwrap their glorious motorcycles under the Unic-Moto tent and hand out candy to the kids.
Technically, my working day should only start in the evening with the competition, the track day before that is organised by the Lithuanian club CR Moto and it is not mandatory for the competitors. But I like to be there earlier and get a feeling of the vibe.
I don’t witness the accident that happens to the Latvian racer, because at the time I’m in the track admin building. At first I don’t understand that anything has happened. But when I meet Dace Teibe, a Latvian photographer and spokesperson for the Baltic Circuit Racing Championship, on the stairs, who is in complete shock and shaking all over, I understand that something is very wrong.
After a few minutes, I get information from the race control centre that a tragic accident has happened.
I know that the media will be extremely interested in the event after a few minutes. I quickly consult on the phone with Raul Koov, the chairman of the board of the Estonian Motorcycling Federation, who is currently driving to the circuit, and Tõnu Seil, the sports director, and we decide to prepare and send out the first announcement about the event as soon as possible. It must be brief and contain only facts that are known to us and can be disclosed.
The press release is ready in about half an hour, my writing is interrupted by phone calls from various media publications. One of them asks me to send the announcement to his publication first and only then to the others, because “we were the first to react.”
Journalists are calling me on their initiative for the first time about a circuit race. Under normal circumstances, our competitions are not of much interest to the media, no matter how exciting and fierce the races are. I ask myself, have any of these callers ever even been to a race?
Lithuanian Adomas Dautartas, race director of the track day, briefly informs the competitors of what happened in an emergency meeting. Everyone is in shock. The mood is gloomy. We have lost one of our racing family.
The track day is over and it is decided to cancel the entire competition as well.
The announcement goes out and all the major outlets publish it in seconds.
Of course, public interest does not end there. Within minutes, the opinions of various former and current riders, teams, officials, etc. about what happened and why, reach the publications and the vastness of social media. We appoint Raul Koov, a race official with international experience as the spokesperson, and he is under the greatest pressure commenting on the accident. But the situation will be tense in the following weeks for all members of the EMF circuit racing commission, who are trying to find a positive solution to the situation out of the public eye.
Today is July 25th and there have been two championship events, one in Bikernieki and one last weekend in Pärnu, in addition to youth rounds in Aravete and Kuningamäe. In the meantime, we have thoroughly analysed the current situation with the manager of the Pärnu circuit, many changes have been made to the track, but some work is still planned.
Media interest in circuit racing is as lukewarm as ever, even though many riders and clubs have accomplished extraordinary feats in the past month and a half. However, the riders and other circuit racing folk are as friendly, helpful and competitive as ever, and I think that’s what matters most.
4 things that I learned from what happened:
- Be the first to react.
- When something happens, everyone has an opinion about it. Responding to all these opinions in turn is not always the best idea, as it can lead to endless accusations.
- The accident is tragic and there is no way to bring back a dear person. But you must try to emerge from a terrible situation stronger and do everything in your power to improve things.
- As long as what you cover in whatever outlet you have is an inspiration to at least one person, you must continue.
I would like to thank all riders, teams and their supporters, organisers and helping hands, fans, for the awesome experiences on the track. Special thanks to the members of the circuit racing commission: Hanno Hansson, Erkki Krünberk, Silver Kuusk and Andre Vähesoo.
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