Sidecar rider didn't want to race

Cheryl Leybourne and her 8-year-old daughter Tabitha with their dog Bubbles. Picture / Simon Baker

Michael Corbett was shaking with fear.

He knew something bad was going to happen as he prepared to go out onto Canterbury's Ruapuna Raceway to compete in the finals of the South Island motorcycle sidecar championships.

Minutes later he was thrown out of his sidecar, three metres into the air and landed on his neck. He died in Christchurch Hospital six weeks later of respiratory failure due to tetraplegia.

"I remember the race before his accident. He had come out and he was shaking and he actually told us: 'It's rough out there, something is going to happen'," Cheryl Leybourne, his partner and mother of his 8-year-old daughter, , told the Herald.

"He didn't even want his daughter to be there that night because he felt the competition between all the competitors was so high. The whole time I have known Michael, in the eight years that I have seen him racing, I have never seen him scared like ... he was before his crash."

A coroner's inquest into the death of Michael Philip Corbett, 31, yesterday heard that one competitor pulled out before racing, while a second pulled out during the racing because of the concerns about the safety of the track. Racing had been called off the day before after heavy rain.

Officials told the inquest the track was considered heavy because of the rain, but it was left up to competitors to decide if they wanted to race.

Brent Tomkins, who was driving the motorcycle Mr Corbett's sidecar was attached to, told the inquest the track was rough and cut up.

He said he was rounding a corner of the Ruapuna track, known as prison corner, when he hit a rut on the track and clipped the front wheel of a motorcycle in front before he and Mr Corbett spilled out.

Asked if he and Mr Corbett considered withdrawing from the race because of the state of the track, Mr Tomkins said:

"In a group of guys you are always going to get some who will pull out and some who won't. In my opinion there should be some sort of overseer so racers shouldn't have to make that call. I don't believe the onus should be all on the competitors."

Outside the court, Ms Leybourne said the race should never have gone ahead. Mr Corbett had felt pressure to race because others were.

She said the inquest yesterday brought many bad memories back.

"It's been a year and half gone and we still felt like we haven't been able to finish grieving with this over our heads."

Ms Leybourne said she was trying to keep the memory of Mr Corbett alive for the sake of her daughter, Tabitha, 8.

"I still have my moments where it is hard for me, but I try and keep strong for her. It's what Michael would have wanted. We have explained everything to her and she was there every day at the hospital and she knows why he passed away.

"We don't want to keep her in the dark. We want her to fully understand like we do."

Coroner Richard McElrea said it was clear that Mr Corbett's death was an accident. He adjourned the inquest for further inquiry and will deliver a written decision.