A South Australian surgeon is calling for an investigation into the frequency and severity of Australia's motorsport crashes.
Barney McCusker has worked as an orthopaedic surgeon in Mount Gambier for 35 years.
He said he regularly treated riders who had crashed at the local track, McNamara Park Raceway.
"Many of us [at the hospital] have observed a number of quite serious accidents coming out of McNamara Park," Dr McCusker said.
"This might be just the fact that it's a high energy activity, which has intrinsic dangers, and it may be actually quite normal.
"We may be overreacting to the number of injuries we're seeing from McNamara Park."
But Dr McCusker said he believed more data about the accidents should be collected and analysed.
"To look at the severity of these injuries, to look at the number of these injuries, to look at the number of riders and to see: is there something about this park, or is it just normal … compared to other parks around Australia?
"The answer will be in the figures, and it'll be in the analysis of those figures."
Dr McCusker said he had his "suspicions" about the safety of the track.
"Whereas when they come off at this park, they have actually had serious injuries.
"Might be just bad luck … Perhaps the figures will indicate that this is actually quite a safe track [but] that is yet to be determined."
'Challenging' and 'good fun'
South Australian rider Paul van der Heiden has been racing since 2007, and is no stranger to Australia's tracks or competition crashes.
He broke two ribs and his left scapula, or shoulder blade, in a crash at McNamara Park in April.
"I actually got knocked unconscious when I came off the bike, I hit the ground that hard," he said.
"I would have walked away from this crash, but the bike hit me – after I stopped moving, the bike kept coming and ended up in my back."
But Mr van der Heiden was not deterred, saying "you can crash anywhere".
"I just love riding motorcycles," he said.
"There's the thrill of the speed and the braking hard, accelerating hard, and then the challenge of perfecting the track."
He said he was excited to race at McNamara Park again soon.
"It's very challenging, very interesting, and a lot of fun.
"The Bend [Motorsport Park] and Phillip Island [Circuit], they're miles wide and very smooth.
"Whereas Mac Park, it's bumpy, it's undulating, it's twisting and turning.
"The more challenge that there is, the more you get out of it when you beat that challenge, when you meet that challenge."
Under constant review
President of the Mount Gambier Motorcycle Club Alex Trnovsky said the track was constantly reviewed to improve racers' safety.
"As a club, we do everything we can to ensure the safety of our riders and spectators," he said.
"In recent years, we've increased a lot of our runoff areas, so that that makes it a bit safer.
"We also ensure that we have trained medical staff on site for all events.
"We actually have more medical staff than what we technically need but we have decided to prioritise that, even though it costs the club more, just to make things as safe as they can be should an incident occur."
Mr Trnovsky said the risk was part of the allure of the sport.
"All forms of motorsport are dangerous, they have inherent risks, but I think everyone who participates is aware of those risks," he said.
"As a rider myself, it's part of what makes it exciting.
He said all incidents were reported to Motorcycling Australia.
"We also look at that data to try and see if there's hotspots – if you like – out on the track and that gives us an idea of where we can try and improve the layout of the circuit," he said.
"We get [Motorcycling Australia's] guidelines, and they have a track inspector who comes down and we've worked closely with them to make sure that our track is of a national standard.
"They would have data of every crash at every track, and they use that to come up with some of their rules and regulations as well."
Motorcycling Australia chief executive Peter Doyle said there was "nothing that stands out" about McNamara Park Raceway from a safety perspective.
"Motorcycle sport is on the extreme side when it comes to sport, and is considered a dangerous recreational activity," he said.
"Circuit safety is constantly under review and discussion and is constantly evolving.
"Road courses are reviewed annually and concerns and serious incidents are investigated."
