2026 Walderstown Road Races Results :
The 2026 Walderstown Road Races, the famed “Race of the South,” returned to County Westmeath on July 18–19, 2026. Organised by the Fore Motorcycle Racing Club, the sun-drenched weekend delivered top-tier national road racing action highlighted by historic milestones and lap records.
Dunlop Dominates with Another Hat-Trick :
The headline story of the weekend belonged to Michael Dunlop MBE (MD Racing – BMW). Replicating his 2022 feat, Dunlop left the Walderstown circuit with a commanding hat-trick of race victories, including a masterful performance in the feature Terence Healy Motorcycles Open Race.
- Historic Tally: The Open race victory marked Dunlop’s 137th career Irish National road race win.
- The Podium: Dunlop maintained his perfect 2026 unbeaten streak in the 1000cc national category, overcoming pole-sitter Michael Sweeney (Martin Jones Racing – BMW) and early race leader Derek McGee (BE/RK Racing – BMW), who made a highly popular and strong return to the roads scene.
Sweeney Smashes the Lap Record :
Though denied the Open race win, Michael Sweeney enjoyed a standout weekend. In the Super Twins class, Sweeney surged to victory while shattering the circuit’s class benchmark, setting a blistering new Super Twins lap record of 1:12.792. Sean Brolly and James Chawke filled out the remaining steps of the Super Twins podium.
Support and Classic Class Sweeps :
The support classes saw an absolute masterclass from Jason Whelan, who pulled off a brilliant double by securing dominant victories in both the Senior Support and Junior Support races.
Meanwhile, veteran road racer Andy Farrell proved unstoppable in the specialized classes, piloting his machines to hard-fought victories in both the Supermono and Classic Superbike encounters.
Other Notable Category Winners
- Supersport 400: Aidan Cleary
- Moto 3: Robert O’Neill
- Senior 1000 Classics: Andy Kildea
- Senior 500 Classics: Wattie Brown
- Junior 350 Classics: Robert McCrum
- Junior 250 Classics: Richard Ford
2026 Walderstown Road Races Results :
Sunday 19th July 2026 :
Following the conclusion of the event the Club issued the following statement via Facebook :
”Walderstown Road Races 2026 :
The curtain comes down on weekend that saw the return of the Race of the South for 2026.
After a 4 year absence, what a way to bounce back.
The sunny weather played its part and certainly the riders and races followed suit also.
What a show these road racing warriors put on for us over the weekend,we were entertained to the max.
Yes the grids may have been small but they put on some show from first to last.
To all our race and programme sponsors, especially our headline sponsor, Principal Insurance we say a big thank you.
Without the financial support from them, we just couldn’t put on the show.
We understand there was a few hiccups in our set up, after a 4 year absence we may have missed 1 or 2 things and some things didn’t fall into place as we expected.
We are a small club with big work rate and great members and friends who put it all together to get us back going again.
To all the winners we say well done one and all and congrats.
To all riders who showed off their talents, we say a big thank you to those who came along.
To all our marshalls, be it crowd control, flaggers, radio people we say thank you.
Our rider rescue, Terence Healy and team, thank you.
To the media that turned out to help promote the event and will showcase the event in the days after, thank you.
Our medics, our travelling marshalls, Brendan and Mick, thank you, not easy on the 2 lads.
To all the officials who oversaw the event, a thanks to you for running and controlling the event.
To our committee and friends of the club who put in long days in the build up, the work continued into last night and again this morning, so a big thank you to you all.
And to the spectators who showed up in their thousands, a big thank you goes to you guys.
On our clean up last night, a few things that stood out to us, the respect we got, the respect showed by spectators to our land owners and residents, and finally how clean the spectator areas were left after the event.
A big thank you from the club.
We asked that ye play your part and ye did.
Unfortunately we have to wait 12 months to do it all again but return we will, hopefully bigger and better.
The circus continues this weekend with Armoy Road Races taking place and we wish everyone a safe and enjoyable weekend.
For Walderstown Road Races, Race of the South 2026, we say the flag has dropped, the day is done.
See you in 2027.”
Keep up with all the latest News on the Walderstown Race of the South Facebook Page.
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