Bushfires auctions brings huge successes at Phillip Island
The charity auction, which saw numerous exclusive items open to purchase by the public, raised enormous funds for the victims of the Australian wildfires
Whilst the on-track action at the Yamaha Finance Australian Round proved scintillating and exciting, there was plenty of topics to talk about off-track, especially with the charity auction taking place. The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s teams, riders and organisers came together to raise as much money as possible for the victims of the devastating bushfires that have hit Australia, with enormous amounts raised.
One of the stand-out achievements was the 17,576€ raised from Jonathan Rea’s (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) race helmet, a special one-off helmet designed especially for this round. The five-time WorldSBK Champion has Australia close to his heart and his memorabilia continued to go down a treat, with his personalised race boots being sold at 1270€.
It wasn’t just Rea’s helmet however, as Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) also auctioned theirs. Davies’ fetched 4499€ whilst Rinaldi’s hit 1731€. Scott Redding donated his leathers, with them raising 1615€, whereas WorldSBK Championship organisers Dorna donated an exclusive Behind the Scenes experience, which was snapped up at a healthy 1154€. In total, an incredible 36,712€ (62,105 AUD) was raised for a very good cause, with the money going to help Australians impacted by the bushfires to rebuild their lives.
Speaking after the event, BlazeAid – the recipient charity – stated their joy at the success of the auction: “The World Superbike Charity Auction donation will go towards additional incident response trailers. These trailers are fully equipped with fencing repair tools, fencing materials, first aid supplies, safety gear, fuel cards, steel posts, chainsaws and powers tools. All items purchased make a huge difference with recovery efforts by BlazeAid their team of volunteers. The BlazeAid team are extremely grateful for the donation and would like to thank everyone from the World Superbike Community for their generosity.”
Gregorio Lavilla, Dorna WorldSBK Executive Director, Sporting and Organization Departments, stated his thoughts: “I would like to thank all of the riders, teams and personnel who took part in this very special cause. The Australian community has been a part of the WorldSBK family for many years and to repay that faith with phenomenal results – both on-track and off-track – has made this year’s Yamaha Finance Australian Round very special. To raise the amount of money that has been raised is a credit to the worldwide motorcycle racing community and passionate fans of WorldSBK.”
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