Inquest into death of MGP competitor continues

Louis O'Regan sustained fatal injuries in incident at Kate's Cottage

*A warning that this story contains information which readers may find upsetting.

Contaminated water seepage and tyre marks were the main points of discussion in the second day of an inquest into the death of a Manx Grand Prix motorcycle racer.

Louis O’Regan was killed during the first qualifying session of the opening day of the event on 18 August 2024.

The 43-year-old from Didcot in England was involved in an incident at Kate’s Cottage just before 5pm.

His inquest was reconvened again today (10 March) at Douglas Courthouse, overseen by Deputy Coroner of Inquests Rebecca Cubbon.

The outcome of the inquest will be announced on Friday (13 March) when she delivers her conclusion.

It’s worth noting that inquests are a fact-finding process to determine the when, where, and how (medical cause and surrounding circumstances) of a death.

Blame will not be assigned, and inquests don’t act as criminal proceedings.

Today the inquest heard further evidence from marshals, along with the chief sector marshal, travelling marshal, police officers and Department of Infrastructure employees.

MARSHALS

The first evidence of the day was from a marshal stationed at Kate’s Cottage, who witnessed both O’Regan’s fatal crash and an earlier red flag incident involving local rider Jamie Williams, described as a ‘tank slapper’.

He said both racers undoubtedly lost control in the same area, but argued it wasn’t in the same manner.

Disputing what other marshals told the court yesterday (9 March), he said seepage from the road was ‘not evident on that day’ before racing began, and if it had been, marshals would have reported it as is standard.

However, he went on to say about one in five riders coming through Kate’s Cottage between both incidents appeared to have a ‘rear end twitch’ on their bikes at the ‘exact same spot’ on the road.

Another marshal stationed at Kate’s Cottage on the day also described O’Regan’s crash in detail, as she was the first to administer CPR to the Didcot man.

She described being able to ‘see and hear the bike was out of control’ as he came into view around the corner.

The court also heard evidence from Chief Sector Marshal Mark Johnstone, who was called to testify in person at the last minute by both representatives of O’Regan’s family and ACU Events Ltd. to clarify points raised in evidence yesterday.

He confirmed there typically has ‘always been issues with water’ in the area of Keppel Gate to Kate’s Cottage, but that generally ‘as long as it’s not on the racing line, it’s okay’.

He viewed Williams’ crash as unusual, as there hadn’t been an incident at that point on the course in many years, and he is such an experienced rider.

Mr Johnstone told the court ‘at a later date’ after the 18 August, marshals people mentioned to him that bikes were twitching going through there, and it ‘seemed to come across that it was a little bit more than normal’, but said it wasn’t flagged as an issue to him on the day.

As a precaution though, he says he told marshals stationed at Keppel’s Gate to display ‘lack of adhesion’ flags going forward in the day.

However, he couldn’t confirm if those flags were indeed displayed, as he was stationed at the Creg-Ny-Baa during sessions.

Yesterday, the inquest heard that following Mr Williams’ crash, a ‘lack of adhesion’ warning was displayed on matrix signs and announced in the paddock ahead of further racing, but physical flags could not be verified.

Following O’Regan’s crash, Mr Johnstone said he was ‘not happy with the road conditions’, and it was then discovered that water was coming up through the surface, seemingly contaminated with peat.

In the following days, banding work was carried out at the location.

POLICE

Extensive evidence was given to the inquest today by former collision investigator PC Steffan Hoy, who reiterated his belief that the contaminated water coming up through the road impacted both riders that day.

The wet patch was described as being through the centre white lines on the carriageway.

He said there’s a ‘significant difference between normal water and water contaminated with peat residue’ as the presence of organic matter mixed in with water makes the consistency ‘like a soapy substance’ which is yellow in colour.

He told the court the patch was ‘extremely slippery under foot when I walked on it’.

Yesterday, Mr Williams said the white centre line was ‘100 percent’ where he lost control, something PC Hoy agreed with, arguing that there’s a difference between a damp patch and a patch that’s contaminated with a foreign substance.

Using detailed tyre mark evidence, PC Hoy said he was satisfied that O’Regan entered Kate’s Cottage and took the corner over the contaminated white line but conceded that that opinion ‘can’t negate rider error’.

He said it was important to note that it’s difficult to ascertain ‘what’s a cause of a crash, and what has been resultant of that cause’, arguing that the cause of a crash ‘happens in a fraction of a second’.

Cross-examining the collision investigator, advocate Darren Taubitz pressed him on his implications, quoting an investigation report which stated that it was ‘impossible to say’ whether the single wet patch caused the crash.

He asked PC Hoy if the dark residue on the road at the point of the seepage was ever actually tested to determine if it was peat – something PC Hoy confirmed did not happen.

No testing was undertaken of the contaminate area; there was no evidence of it on the road surface, and the post-crash vehicle examination didn’t identify any contamination on the tyres.

However, PC Hoy argued that this sort of evidence wouldn’t necessarily be present, giving the example of a car driving over a diesel spill and having an accident, saying he’s ‘yet to find any diesel on a tyre’ in those circumstances.

ROAD REPAIRS

Several statements were read to the court from employees within Highway Services at the Department of Infrastructure, which has responsibility for the upkeep of the A18 Mountain Road.

At the time of racing periods however, the responsibility falls to ACU Events Ltd., and they ‘inspect the track and make sure it’s suitable for racing’.

These statements confirmed that some ‘road condition concerns were raised prior to TT 2024, but [these] were not deemed to present a risk by ACU Events Ltd.’.

These included slippery patches between the 33rd milestone and Keppel Gate which impact general road users in wet conditions, as opposed to racers who don’t compete in such conditions.

Post incidents, on 21 August, the organisers raised slight concerns with the water patch to the DOI, but it was stated that they believed O’Regan lost control before it.

Regardless, a contractor did banding work to fix the point ahead of any further racing.

MACHINERY ISSUES

Potential rider error or mechanical issues were again raised as possible contributors to the incident at today’s inquest.

It’s as incorrect gear selection could cause the rear wheel of the bike to lock up, and would tie in with sounds described by some witnesses in the area at the time of the crash.

Again – much like the contaminated water patch theory – this could not be proven with 100 percent certainty either way by any witnesses.

POST-MORTEM

Reading aloud Mr O’Regan’s post-mortem report, Deputy Coroner of Inquests Cubbon confirmed he died of multiple injuries, including extensive head injuries.

It’s believed he succumbed to his injuries rapidly.

SUBMISSIONS

Rounding out today’s inquest session, representatives for all parties gave final submissions based on points of law.

The advocate for Mr O’Regan’s family, John Aycock, implored the deputy coroner to return on Friday with an ‘accidental death’ verdict, as opposed to ‘misadventure’.

He stated that ‘this distinction is meaningful to the family’ given that a misadventure verdict denotes elements of ‘bad luck’ which they say there is ‘no evidence’ of in this case.

He also outlined some recommendations the family would like her to consider imposing in her findings, including the introduction of clearer procedures regarding when, how and if to restart racing after red flag incidents, better consideration of whether road conditions have caused a crash, and better communication between marshals, travelling marshals and race control.

It’s anticipated the findings of Louis O’Regan’s inquest will be announced on Friday.