MSA National Court: 31 January 2006
Having listened to evidence at its hearing on Tuesday 31
January, the Motor Sports Association's National Court has
taken the following action:
The Court has suspended the competition licence of Junior
Rotax kart racing driver Adam Christodoulou until September
2006. This means Adam Christodoulou will not be permitted
to compete in the UK or overseas during this period.
However, the Court has decided not to take any action against
three other drivers: Lewis Reeves, Jack Harvey and Jordan
Chamberlain.
Separately, the Court has ordered Adam Christodoulou’s
father, Peter Christodoulou, to pay £13,000 in costs.
The above decisions were taken on the third and final day
of a hearing that opened in December 2005.
In December, the court found that the four drivers named
had competed in a meeting at Rowrah on 5 June 2005 using illegally-modified
engines. These had been modified by Peter Christodoulou whose
actions resulted in a fine of £30,000. The latest order
to pay £13,000 in costs is in addition to this fine.
At Tuesday’s hearing, the Court did not accept Adam
Christodoulou’s claim that he did not know that his
engine at Rowrah had been illegally modified.
However, the Court did accept that the three other drivers
– Lewis Reeves, Jack Harvey and Jordan Chamberlain –
did not know that the engines they were using were illegal.
In effect, said the Court, these drivers had "been fooled."
Previously, the Court had heard unchallenged evidence from
Michael Garton, one of the MSA’s most experienced technical
commissioners, who said the modifications made to the engines
by Mr Christodoulou had been "very deliberate, very sophisticated
and very expensive."
Mr Garton also said that this was "the most serious
case of cheating" he had ever witnessed during his many
years of investigating ineligibility in karting.
In a statement, the Court said: "We accept that Adam
(Christodoulou) has considerable ability and we do not wish
to prevent him from participating in the sport for more than
one season. We also accept that this matter has been hanging
over his head for a considerable amount of time, not due wholly
to his own fault. We are accordingly suspending his licence
until 30 September 2006; and we make an order pursuant to
rule 161 of the FIA rules to give that suspension international
application."
The Court also heard that the four drivers, since the meeting
at Rowrah, had been "victimised" by a number of
clubs.
In its statement, the Court added: "We have been made
aware of the fact that some clubs have already taken matters
into their own hands so as, in effect, to mete out what might
be regarded as kangaroo justice. We wholly understand why
people feel very strongly about this kind of cheating. Indeed,
we agree with them.
"We, however, have heard and tested the actual evidence
to the best of our abilities and it is we who have the job
of deciding where the truth lies. We have done so and we very
much hope that our decision and rulings draw a firm line under
this matter. We would be very concerned indeed if further
reports of any kind of kangaroo justice were to come to our
attention again."
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