TT 2022 sidecar crash: Veteran road racer Adrian Craig defends roadracing after tragic death of Olivier Lavorel, driver César Chanel still critical

On Saturday sidecar passenger Olivier Lavorel, 35, from Sillingy, France was killed in an incident during the first Sidecar Race of the 2022 Isle of Man TT Races. His driver César Chanel was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

The tragedy comes soon after the death of Welsh rider Mark Purslow at the TT last week.

The deaths sparked an outpouring of grief and tributes on social media. However, it also sparked some to raise the perennial question about whether road racing is worth the fatality rate, with one fan respectfully suggesting that it would be better if the TT road races were moved onto the wide open spaces of the RAF Jurby facility on the island.

However former Irish champion race Adrian Craig said such a suggestion was not acceptable.

Has won multiple Irish Road Race Championships and also champion in the Embassy Championship, Irish Road Road Race and Irish Short Circuit Championship.

“I am really sorry to hear we have had another serious injury and a fatality,” he told the News Letter.

“Road Racing has always been a very dangerous sport but the people that take part in it know the dangers before they start,” he responds.

“I was interviewed 40 years ago after a race and Geoff Duke, former world champion, was asked if the motorcycles were getting too fast for the circuit? And his reply was that the throttle works before ways, and that is very true.”

There can be mechanical reasons for crashes, he notes.

“But most of us involved in the sport love it and there is absolutely nobody compelling us to do it. I have lost a lot of close friends over the years through motorcycling racing but if I was to live my life over again I would still do it.

“Road Racing is a heritage here in Ireland and at the TT which has been going around for a hundred years. There have been fatalities all through those years. Where you have speed related races you are going to have the odd incident.”

He says there are many fatalities among motorists and nobody is talking about stopping driving on the roads.

He has also been heavily involved in horse riding most of his life also and says the fatalities in that sport “probably outweighs those in motorcycling racing many times”.

“So I can’t really see why people jump on the bandwagon all the time regarding motorcycles”

The News Letter put it to him that the suggestion on social media was not to ban motorcycle racing but to move road racing off roads and onto a safer airfield track.

“Yes but the person who said that doesn’t understand road racing,” he responds. “It is completely different to short circuit racing on a track. The adrenaline you get in road racing compared to a circuit is beyond anything else.”

“I know it is a very dangerous sport but the people taking part know the dangers before they start.

“I raced for quite a number of years and won a few championships and I knew when I started that things can go wrong and you can make mistakes.

“What are you going to do - are you going to ruin everybody’s sport because of an odd injury, however, I know it is terrible for the families that are left behind.”

Road racers are “very jealous” in defending the reputation of their support, he says, but he does wonder if he might take a different view if had been seriously injured in his career.

But he insists there is no comparison between road racing and short circuit racing.

“Michael Dunlop is one of our top riders in Ireland. He can go to a short circuit and he is not competitive at the front. But when he goes to road racing he is very competitive, he is always in the first three or four riders. It is just a different type of sport entirely.”

He accepts that the level of adrenaline high for road racers he mentions is so high because the danger is so high. “I would say it probably is, yes.”

He says “so much more concentration” is needed because the road surface is so variable and there are so many potentially dangerous obstacles such as walls, kerbs and lamp posts - compared to a short circuit.

It is also much more difficult to learn a road race circuit than a track circuit, he says.

“And I guarantee if you spoke to the majority of fans they would much prefer a road race to a short circuit.”

But again, he agrees that this is due to the much higher level of danger and risk. “That is correct”.

He also says sidecar racing is significantly more dangerous than solo racing.

“I took part in the sidecar class myself in the TT as a passenger many years ago. Sidecar racing is probably even more dangerous than solo racing- much more.

“For a start, this is due to the sidecar and the passenger hanging so far out at the side. The driver has to remember that extra width in corners and he has to be more alert to what he is doing because of that.”

:: At 3:40pm today, Sunday 5 June, the Isle of Man TT Races Media Office told the News Letter that César Chanel is still categorised as critical at Aintree Hospital.