A member of the family behind the OTR service station chain that sold for $1.2 billion in 2023, Shahin made a prominent appearance alongside Malinauskas at the Adelaide event announcement on Thursday.
The Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix will move from its long-time home on Victoria’s Phillip Island to a rejigged Adelaide Parklands street circuit from 2027.
It’s a twist born out of MotoGP’s push to add street races to its calendar, a desire Victoria was unwilling to facilitate via a proposed switch to the home of its Formula 1 Grand Prix, Albert Park.
Having long coveted a MotoGP race for his own circuit, Shahin cultivated a relationship with MotoGP organisers and then tipped the government off to the series’ push for a street event.
“We would not be here today, plain and simple, without Sam,” declared Malinauskas.
“Sam actively facilitated the relationship the state government now has with MotoGP internationally.
“When Sam picked up the phone to me and said, ‘I think we’ve got an opportunity…’ and then explained it to me, I was dumbfounded.
“One, about just how an exciting proposition it was, but two, that Sam would act with a generosity to put the state’s interests first, and that has now resulted in this outcome.
“Without Sam’s commitment to motorsport in South Australia, it just wouldn’t be happening.”
It’s believed The Bend is now likely to wrestle Australia’s World Superbike Championship round from Phillip Island for 2028, although there’s no official word on that yet.
Speaking on ABC Radio, Shahin said he had no qualms about the fact MotoGP is headed to the city, rather than his Tailem Bend venue that opened in 2018.
“I’m beyond proud that as a first-generation Palestinian immigrant, I’ve played a part in bringing this truly global event to the place that gave me hope, the place that gave me an identity and a place that gave me opportunity,” said Shahin of MotoGP.
“You cannot be but super proud that this is coming to our great state of South Australia.”
Shahin also revealed the length of time over which he’d courted MotoGP bosses.
“I had my Martin Luther King, ‘I have a dream’, to bring MotoGP to South Australia,” he continued.
“I started the conversations with the international rights holders almost 10 years ago.
“I had invited them and they’ve been to The Bend on more than one occasion, and it’s been a journey to establish trust, to establish our relationship, to establish our credibility as a state, and a business that can hold these incredibly complex events.
“But 2026, the right time, the right opportunity has come up, and what is good for South Australia will be good for The Bend and everybody involved in the sport and in the business of sport in South Australia.”
Shahin had been spied by local media picking up MotoGP boss Carlos Ezpeleta at Adelaide Airport on Wednesday night.
It increased speculation The Bend would be part of the deal, potentially as a temporary home for the event until a street circuit was ready.
Malinauskas, though, batted away any suggestions that a suitable circuit for MotoGP can’t be ready for the proposed November 2027 date.
“We believe we can get this done,” he said, outlining his government’s record in getting the Adelaide Supercars event up and running in November 2022 after a March election.
“We’ve got from we’ve got from now until November next year to make this happen.”
While revelling in the coup on the eve of next month’s SA state election, Malinauskas stopped short of declaring the deal revenge on Victoria for poaching the Australian F1 Grand Prix the mid-1990s.
“We’re very proud that South Australia hosts these events – and when we do it, we do it well, [but] I am not a premier who is in the business of diminishing other states,” he said.
“I’ve seen some Victorian politicians seek to do that in the past and I don’t know how that looks for them now. I’m not going to bag Victoria.”
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