2023 Road Racing NOT Cancelled :
IMPORTANT UPDATE 15/03/2023 :
The Motorcycle Union of Ireland (Ulster Centre) have just announced via release on their Facebook Page that motorcycle road racing in Northern Ireland is now set to go ahead in 2023.
A new quote has been obtained re the otherwise unaffordable insurance that had cancelled all motorcycling events in Northern Ireland. This quote, along with the funds raised by the generous donations of motorcycle fans, now means that Northern Irish Road Racing events can now go ahead.
Let’s go racing in 2023!
**(Other than the addition of ‘NOT’ to the title of this post, everything else will remain unedited as an accurate account of the events leading up to the cancellation of all 2023 Motorcycling events as well as what has happened since that initial cancellation).
Yes, unfortunately that title is correct! As of the 10th February all Northern Irish Motorcycling events have been cancelled (except Motocross). That’s all road, track and trials racing!
And in one simple statement that is ‘devastating news.’
It has been a crazy 24 hours for Northern Irish road racing, and furthermore a crazy 3 or 4 days for Irish Motorcycle events. As as the time went by over the course of today it simply got worse. But where did it all start and what happened when?
By now you will have seen Social Media flooded with the news that all motorcycle events in Northern Ireland, scheduled for 2023, have been cancelled. All the press have picked up on it, the internet has been on fire with rumour and the outcry from both the motorcycling fraternity and the public has been very noticeable and vocal, but how did we get here?
Where did it start?
Since early this year there have been whispers that insurance was proving difficult to obtain for the year ahead. As the early part of this year progressed and the countdown to the year’s opening events got closer, those whispers had become very poorly kept secrets. It was pretty much common knowledge that the price of insurance was being quoted at a level that was simply prohibitively expensive.
To put it in context the figures being spoken about are – insurance for the 2022 Season was about £170,000. The quotes for 2023 were around the £400,000 mark.
Hope however remained that this would be sorted out and another nail in the coffin of road racing could be avoided. As we got into the final weeks of January and into the first week of February this hope had started to turn into worry.
On the 8th February 2023 one of the first official statement from Motorcycling Ireland was issued and it made for very grim reading indeed.
That statement shook the motorcycling community, but it was only the start of what was to come.
What Happened Next?
The MCI(UC) announced that there would be a meeting on Thursday 9th February 2023 evening, involving all relevant clubs and interested parties to discuss the situation and make a decision on the way forward for 2023.
Prior to this meeting the first Club to speak out was Enniskillen and District Motorcycle Club. In a Facebook Post they bravely put forward their stance that the racing would continue with a modest expected increase of entry fees by 20%. Of course this was under the condition that the other involved parties agreed on a way forward and an insurance policy being obtained.
The motorcycling community collectively held their breath awaiting any further news and the outcome of the planned meeting on Thursday 9th February 2023.
Thursday 9th February 2023 : The Meeting :
On Thursday 9th February 2023 at 23:48hrs MCI(UC) issued their statement.
By the early hours of Friday 10th February all major local new outlets were covering the story, such as BBC NI, The Belfast Telegraph and The Newsletter. Numerous other smaller, local and online publications were also running with the developing news.
It wasn’t long until the local Clubs started making their own statements and each one of them made for sad, sad reading. Road racing appeared / appears to be circling the drain.
- As you will see below the North West 200 have not cancelled their event and are looking for a way for the event to continue. Any further information will be made when available through the normal TBNI.Blog Channels. This also explains how the BBC initially ran with the headline (as shown above) that ‘All Motorcycle Racing in Northern Ireland was cancelled for 2023’ to ‘Most Motorcycle Road Races in Northern Ireland Cancelled.’
The Enniskillen Club made the following comments :
Cookstown 100 made the following comments :
Tandragee 100 made the following comments :
The North West 200 made the following comments :
Armoy Race of Legends have not made any public statement at the time of writing.
The Ulster Grand Prix has not made any public statement at the time of writing.
The Aftermath :
The public support that followed the MCI(UC) and individual club statements was massive and it seemed to be growing. (The cynic in me wonders were these ‘vocal supporters’ have been in the past years, when clubs were already on their knees looking support by simply buying a programme but that is a digression for another time.) The main and most important point is, at this very moment, support is there and it needs to be seized by the Clubs and the MCI(UC) before circling the drain becomes disappeared down it.
The MCI(UC) issued a further statement on Friday 10th February 18:39hrs citing a Rescue Plan.
The emotive key line being ‘We cannot afford the premium hikes but nor can we afford to stop the events.’
The Press interest has remained throughout the day, and the big channels are still reporting on the developments.
It is perhaps no surprise that the most coverage is pointing towards the NW200, however “no publicity is bad publicity” and hopefully the attention being given to the NW200 also flows in the direction of the other outstanding track and road events throughout the county.
Further to that it is important that all motorcycle fans throw their support firmly behind any events that do progress. Personally, being predominantly road focused, it is also important to make sure our attention is also directed towards the other fantastic trial events and circuits that we have here. No insurance means – no events anywhere, no Sunflower, no Ulster Superbike Championship, no nothing!
And let’s not forget the races in the South, whilst nothing has been formalised yet, cast your mind back to the start of this article, things are grim for Irish events too. Imagine the island of Ireland with no motorbike racing! The home of the Dunlops, the home of Jonathan Rea, Lee Johnston, Glen Irwin – and then think that there is no racing.
Let’s not have this situation turn into motorcycling events becoming a distant memory and instead of saying “I can’t wait for Tandragee” to ‘Remember the races that used to be at Tandragee.”
The situation is dire, let’s keep hope alive and hope for a miracle!
The Future :
At the time of writing the MCI(UC) had already lept into action and set up a GoFundMe Page with a target of £300,000.
If you do plan to donate to this cause please be exceptionally careful that you are donating to the Official Fund, and not some other unscrupulous page trying to take advantage of this situation. A number of suspicious and potentially fraudulent pages have already been identified – and closed.
And, we can all rest assured that the Clubs will be doing everything they can to save racing, all the clubs over all the disciplines.
Maybe the answer is crowd funding, maybe it is individually sourced insurance policies for individual events, maybe smaller groups. Maybe the MCI needs to look at its structure, maybe it is a big sponsor…
There are avenues to explore and I am confident those in charge of the Clubs will do just that.
In conclusion though, I think it goes without saying, if the events survive this, it is on us to support them moving forward, and supporting them means financially. It is that simple, money keeps this sport moving, without it, it is done.
Hopefully see you track / hedge side this season!
Update : 18/02/2023 :
The MCUI (UC) issued a statement today, 18/02/2023, which was published on their Facebook Page.
The crux of it seems to be telling competitors to apply for their licences and as far as what is going on around the Public Liability Insurance it appears that a further update will be given in 10/14 days.
The strangest thing about this statement is the language. I simply can not fathom why any organisation would state…
‘I can assure everyone that some people within the Ulster Centre are doing all in their power…’
‘…I along with a few others will do everything in our power…’
The use of language here is so strange, I do not feel it points towards an organisation in sync. Is the MCUI(UC) so fractured that putting out such a statement with language so bizarre and questionable that the UC finds such a post even remotely acceptable in these uncertain times?
It definitely does not point to an organisation set on getting things done. I really hope I am wrong.
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