MOTORSPORT: Stadium Super Trucks lose court fight with CAMS
Judge rejects Robby Gordon’s application for injunction against Australian motorsport governing bodyRobby Gordon’s Stadium Super Trucks (SST) has lost its case against its CAMS suspension in the Victorian Supreme Court.
In delivering his decision late today – 24 hours later than originally scheduled – Justice John Digby said SST had not made a strong enough case for an injunction against CAMS.
He also said he based his decision on CAMS’ wide discretion on safety.
The decision rules out any chance of the SSTs being restored to the Gold Coast 600 event program on October 19-21. Organisers revised the Gold Coast support program several weeks ago to include the Kumho Touring Cars in place of the SSTs.
The SSTs were suspended by CAMS after a wheel came off one driven by Matthew Nolan at Perth’s Barbagallo Raceway in early May, flew through the air, hit a pedestrian bridge crossing the track and landed in the pitlane.
The Gordon camp’s arguments against the suspension and CAMS’ rebuttal of Gordon’s case occupied Justice Digby’s court all of last Friday.
Apart from complaints about how CAMS had handled the matter over several months, the Gordon camp told the court that new forged billet aluminium wheels that would be 2.5 to four times less likely to detach from SSTs than the cast alloy wheels used since they first raced in Australia in 2015 would be fitted if the category was allowed to run at the Gold Coast.
While there was no mention in the court today of the reason for the 24-hour delay in the decision being handed down, there has been talk in the motorsport community that there was an attempt to put extra evidence before the judge after a wheel came off the Jamie Whincup-Paul Dumbrell Holden Commodore in last Sunday’s Bathurst 1000.
It careered along pit straight into a tyre wall down the escape road and then bounced back some distance.
American Gordon has not attended either day of the court case in Melbourne.
However, Australian racing legend Larry Perkins, who submitted written evidence in the case based on his inspection of the SSTs at this year’s Adelaide 500, was in the court today to hear the decision.
Justice Digby ordered that Robby Gordon Enterprises pay CAMS’ standard costs.
The Gordon camp will now consider its position, with the SSTs remaining suspended indefinitely – rather than terminated – from racing in Australia.
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