Race visitors invited to stay

FEBRUARY 2, 2012 1:35pm

People travelling to this weekend’s race meeting at Moama’s Heartland Raceway now have a safer option than driving long distances home after the event.

By Monique Preston

The Heartland Speedway Club is now allowing people with self-contained motorhomes to stay overnight in the car park.

Club member Brian West said the club had found a lot of people who attended meetings were driving home long distances after them.

‘‘People come from all over the place,’’ Mr West said.

‘‘A lot of them are retired. It’s easier for them to stay.’’

Club secretary John Shelton said the club was not in competition with district caravan parks and accommodation places as the people who would stay at the raceway would not normally have stayed in the area after meetings anyway.

‘‘We’re just offering a service,’’ Mr Shelton said.

‘‘It’s just a fatigue thing... we’re just trying to push that a little bit more.

‘‘These people aren’t going to stay locally. They’re going to pull up on the side of the road two hours away.’’

‘‘It’s a little bit we can do in the TAC (Traffic Accident Commission) campaign (against fatigue),’’ Mr West said.

The pair said allowing people to stay would also mean people could enjoy a few drinks at the meeting and not have to worry about how they would get home.

‘‘We want to get the message out that it’s okay to stay,’’ Mr West said.