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Supercars The Bend

The Bend to inherit Adelaide 500 gear

The Bend Motorsport Park is set to inherit some of the infrastructure previously used for the Adelaide 500.

Scott McLaughlin, DJR Team Penske Ford

A number of the assets from the famous street circuit will be handed over to The Bend by the South Australian government as part of its plans to offload the gear now the event has been axed.

Motorsport.com understands a pedestrian bridge is the big ticket item headed to Tailem Bend, with ground works suggesting it will be placed at pit exit.

Fencing has also been dropped in place to help create two new general admission spectator areas, one in the infield of the main straight and one on the outside of the back straight leading up to Turn 13.

The infrastructure upgrades have been spotted by Supercars, GT and Carrera Cup teams who have been testing at the circuit recently.

Work is expected to be completed by the time The Bend hosts Supercars next weekend.

A spokesperson from The Bend declined to comment when approached by Motorsport.com.

The disposal of the infrastructure has become the latest flash point in the controversial Adelaide 500 saga.

The renowned event was unexpectedly axed after two decades on the Supercars schedule last year.

The shock axing came right as Supercars was about to unveil its 2021 schedule with Adelaide as its new finale.

The South Australian government was widely criticised for the move, while opposition leader Peter Malinauskas immediately inked a deal with Supercars to bring back the event if he wins power in next March's state election.

The recent news regarding the circuit assets drew further criticism from Malinauskas, who accused premier Steven Marshall of holding a fire sale to thwart the election promise.

"The rushed sell-off of the Adelaide 500 infrastructure by Steven Marshall is a blatant attempt to sabotage the people of South Australia from having their say on the future of the iconic race," he wrote on Twitter at the time.

Supercars does have its own street circuit infrastructure, used for events such as the Gold Coast and Newcastle, that could be built in Adelaide should Labor win the election and the event is restored.

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