THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Why some foreign fans won’t be back for Thai MotoGP next year 

Why some foreign fans won’t be back for Thai MotoGP next year 

What an affront to sports fans! At Sunday’s MotoGP at the Chang International Circuit, my family and hundreds of other people showed up, paid our entry fees, but were denied even a glimpse of the racetrack, the riders, the bikes, or so much as a sniff of racing exhaust.

We were confined to a car park and food centre for the whole day. Okay, the stadia were full, but where were the standing areas between buildings? Where were the underpasses and Dunlop bridges to open up the huge open areas encompassed by the track, to accommodate the overflow like any other race circuit in the world?
There was a big screen and stage in the Chang beer tent, but the live video feed was not turned on until after the first race had started. Things went downhill from there. A gaggle of screeching “pretties” appeared on stage to announce some kind of lottery, denying us the useful pre-race documentary, and then incredibly, they continued to shriek and obscure the screen during the start of the main event. Race fans rose up, shouting and waving at them to get off, which they eventually did, but then, to add a final insult, the live video feed was broken off after 15 minutes for a Thai advertising break, depriving us of the defining overtake of the race. We couldn’t believe it.
My 2,400-kilometre round trip was wasted, but I feel particularly sorry for the furious Australians who had flown in for the event, and the bikers who had ridden up from Malaysia. They will not be bothering next year.
Nigel Pike
Phang Nga

nationthailand