Queensland’s Kevin Davies, of Kev “The Noise” Davies Commentary fame, has been hit with a ban from Karting Australia.
KA allege that Davies was “in a position of danger inside the line of first protection of the Track so as to interact with drivers and record vision while on Track activities were taking place.” The charge also stated that Davies was not wearing the KA-issued Media Vest required when in a restricted area of the circuit.
The offences took place at the Cooloola Coast Kart Club circuit on November 22/23 last year. KA included screen shots of Davies’ own videos in an initial letter on November 24. It advised Davies of the seriousness of the breaches and gave him 10 days to provide a written explanation.
Davies replied within the hour, admitting there was a period when he did not have the vest fitted, but says he was situated up in a commentary tower at the time.
“If a kart was going to collide with me in there, it would have to be eight feet off the bloody ground!” he told KartSportNews.
He advised KA he was standing behind barriers and that his camera has 90x optical zoom (GoPro on a stick he told KSN, making it look like he was on the edge of the track). He also apologised for not wearing the vest (explaining he was up in the safety of the commentary tower that was protected by tyres) and he’d do his best to “not make things look that bad again”.
Davies heard no more about the matter – until yesterday.
Karting Australia declared that “on the balance of probabilities” Davies was filming while inside the first line of protection, “therefore placing yourself and the drivers that were on track in danger”. It has revoked Davies’ Media Accreditation until April 30, 2021.
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Kev feels the penalty is disproportionate with the offence.
“I apologised and thought that would be it; naughty boy, don’t do it again. But with my season about to get noisy, this turns up two months later, preventing me from fulfilling my commentary obligations with a number of clubs.
“I just want to commentate and film the races – it brings in numbers to the race meetings, promotes the sport, it’s good for the clubs and adds atmosphere to the meetings.”
As a consequence of the ban, Davies has decided he can’t run his popular ‘Noisy Tour’ series, posting the following on social media:
“It is with great sadness that I have to announce the cancelling of the 2021 project x noisy tour ! And the 2021 just send it series. Today I’m afraid to say I received a 3 month ban from any on track activities at any karting Australia track. It’s never easy to make hard decisions but as this ban period directly impacts the second round of the series I can’t run a series where you drop your worst round and now have a round ineligible.
“I’m truly sorry for this decision but I’ve had to act swiftly as people i know are already organising time off/ accomodation / licences / and some have invested heavily in equipment to especially focus on the tour!
“I’m truly truly sorry, but it’s out of my hands, I don’t think I’m the first to break rules and won’t be the last but I have to abide by decisions made and will not be allowed in any commentary tower until after the date shown on the letter.
My sincere apologies, The Noise”
Kev’s commitment to non-Karting Australia race meetings, which he says make up about 80% of his commentary work, is not affected by the ban.
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