BREAKING: MCUI announce the cancellation of motorcycle racing

The MCUI has announced that all road racing, short circuit and trials events will be cancelled in Northern Ireland.

Motorcycle racing has been cancelled in Northern Ireland, due to insurance costs deeming it impossible to run races in 2023. An emergency meeting was held by the Ulster Centre of Motorcycle Union of Ireland, and they have made the decision to cancel this year’s events.

Meetings had been held on both Monday and Thursday to discuss the issue of rising insurance. The MCUI have struggled with the costs of public liability insurance, with prices tripling for organisers.

Motocross will not be affected by the decision, allowing racing to continue in some form in Northern Ireland. The MCUI will continue to provide licenses to all racers and will honour their Person Accident insurance cover for license holders.

Many famous Road Races have been cancelled, including the Armoy Race of Legends, Cookstown 100, and North West 200. It will also see the Sunflower trophy and the entire Ulster Superbike Championship being cancelled.

The Ulster Grand Prix is one of the many races that has been cancelled with the race arranged to run in August. The race was returning after a three-year absence, originally due to covid.

John Dillon said: “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,”

“The MCUI (UC) will, however, continue to pursue all options for the provision of Public Liability insurance, should they arise in the near future.

“We appreciate that this situation is far from ideal, however although we have been unable to secure the running of events for this year, this arrangement and decision will go a little way to at least allowing licence holders the opportunity to engage in competitive events, should they wish, with the appropriate cover and security.”

Image: Stephen Davison