Rennie Scaysbrook | March 8, 2023
Cycle News Lowside
COLUMN
The End Of Road Racing?
Is this the end of road racing? Perhaps not entirely, but, make no mistake, the sport that started it all is in absolute dire straits in its spiritual home of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
You can blame a number of factors for this, but the main one is the one that almost always kills fun considered outlandish and dangerous—insurance.
On February 9, 2023, news of all Northern Irish road races being canceled was confirmed by the Motorcycling Union of Ireland (MCUI), one of two controlling bodies of the sport, due to sky-rocketing public liability insurance costs.
“The consensus was that the costs proposed were, at this time, unsustainable for most clubs in order to provide the required public liability cover to run our planned events,” said MCIU Chairman John Dillon in an article posted on The-Race.com. “The MCUI will, however, continue to pursue all options for the provision of public liability insurance, should they arise in the near future.”
As it turns out, the press release issued by the MCUI was a bit of a jump start. Insurance costs have indeed gone up a rumored three-fold this year with single event licenses now costing upwards of $481,000. But, go a bit deeper and you’ll see the sport has always been split in two with control of its destiny in the hands of the MCUI and a separate organizing body, Motorcycling Ireland in the Republic of Ireland (based in the UK). It’s a bit like when the WERA’s Formula USA and AMA Superbike were at each other’s throats. The two controlling interests make it incredibly difficult to ensure the correct decisions to grow the sport can be made, rather than just commercial cheap shots.
There is no combined road racing championship in Ireland/Northern Ireland, which, given that the riders who compete are generally the same across both championships, is quite bizarre. Having a multitude of events run by different organizations and clubs mean the bargaining power is significantly reduced in the face of rising insurance costs. Each race is promoted by a club, usually made up of volunteers, and with so many vested interests at play, it makes it impossible to have a united front.
The insurance and club dramas have already seen the death of the Ulster Grand Prix, its last race being held pre-Covid in 2019. Since the news on February 9, the club that promotes the North West 200, Northern Ireland’s largest sporting event that brings in over $12, million to the local economy, looks like it will go ahead with a crowdfunding effort, sponsorship and private donations flooding in to cover the bill.
The Isle of Man TT, however, is different. The TT is promoted and paid for by the Manx government and has a team of professional marketers, sponsorship acquisition experts and TV production professionals at its disposal, with the 2022 TT the first of its kind to receive live streaming via its TT Live Plus app.
In an article posted on Bike Sport News, the newly appointed Isle of Man Enterprise Minister Tim Johnston gleefully announced the TT had covered all the necessary insurance costs for the 2023 event (which is good for me as I’m racing at the TT this year), despite the bill for all the events run on the Isle topping out at a whopping $1.1 million.
“The cover is provided to the race organizer by a permit issue by the Auto Cycle Union, the governing body for motorcycle sports in the UK and the Isle of Man,” Johnston said. “I appreciate that the recent news emanating from Northern Ireland regarding from road racing will have been of concern for TT fans, local residents and businesses. Increasing costs are a challenge for all motorsport events and such challenges are amongst the many reasons why the department has a clear plan in place to continue to grow and diversify the audience for the TT, in turn generating additional income and broader exchequer benefit to ensure the long-term sustainability of the event.”
The TT has proved there’s still a hunger for real roads racing in the British Isles, and there’s also the IRRC (International Road Race Championship) held throughout Europe in places like Germany, the Czech Republic and Belgium that riders and fans can attend. That series is run under a different management and insurance structure and has been silent on the matter as the Northern Irish and Irish organizations appear to be in crisis mode.
Street road racing came to a stop in this country many years ago and street racing really isn’t in the American DNA, with only a few riders in the last half century flying the stars and stripes at international road race events, such as Dave Roper and more recently, Mark Miller.
The sport is, however, very much part of the Irish and Northern Irish DNA, so here’s hoping they can get this mess sorted because you can guarantee that once it’s gone, it’s not coming back. CN
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