Irish Classic Superbike Racing

Hi everybody, it's been way too long since I last wrote on this. Middle of last season I think ! Sorry :(
Three seasons down and about to start our fourth . Truth be told our entries were pretty poor in 2016 for one reason or another but we continued and ran mainly with the lightweight supersport 400s and sometimes the s/bike B or Cup.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and now we realise that running with the 400s was a bad idea. Pretty similar lap times from front to back but very different lines taken by both classes. Tim O Kennedy found this out the hard way having had two coming togethers with 400s ending up with a visit to Naas general on one occasion. No blame being laid with the 400s though. They had their own issues with us also and were doing their own thing. The C/Ship ended up up with Tim O , Brian Murphy and myself occupying the top spots.
Many thanks to Greg Sullivan of Arena Crystal Waterford for the magnificent trophies. Funny little fact, the three winners were all born within one month of one another in 1960 ! Come on young lads . Show us what u got :)
For 2017 I'm happy to say that we'll have the grid all to ourselves providing we have sufficient entries and this wont be a problem as we have everyone from last year returning plus a bunch of guys joining us. This list includes John Ward and his bunch of merry steelie cbr6 mounted friends. I know of at least another eight or ten 750 and 250 gp guys who have bitten the bullet (eventually) and will line up on the grid for our first round.
Speaking of rounds , we'll have six.
We are "not " running at the first round in March ( far too cold :) but doing all the remaining rounds including the "Classic Live " car/bike event in August.
Our age limit has dropped to 40 so anyone born in 77' or before can enter. Age of machine remains the same as "up to 1993 " but theres no combined age thing as in the past. Also , we'll welcome "any age" rider on a genuine F1 air cooled big bike up to year 1984.
This is unashamedly added to attract interest to a class of racing that has become very popular abroad of late and to groom riders and teams to compete eventually with Team Ireland at Phillip Island at the International Classic which takes place every year in late January.
Expect a grid of 250GP bikes , 600s , 750s, 860s , 1000s and a few F1 old girls in the mix also.
Should be good. Great even.
Sponsors welcome . Anyone that would like to sponsor prize money at any of the events please get in touch. We'll be camped out in garage 13/14 as usual. Call in and check us out (the bikes that is ! ).
Come to think of it, ladies, check out the riders also. Theres a few single guys ready and able. We do everything a bit slower than the young guns but have more finesse due to our experience & just take a little longer to get to the end.

Mammy, pay no heed. Just talking about riding techniques. Honest.

Another round of our series done n dusted .
Reasonable entry this time with 16 of us taking part.
Joining us this time (and for the future also hopefully ) was John Ella and Ronan Shanahan both on 250 GP bikes.
Three races over the weekend and the same three riders took the podiums in all three races. Hilton Hincks showed his class once again coming out on top in all three races.
John Ella and Tim O Kennedy had some great close battles with Tim nailing two second places and a third , with John a second and two thirds.
Tim has seemingly found some of his old form and got down to a 59.1 in the last race while chasing down John and taking him in the last corner. Impressive stuff. In fact that lap time was faster than anyone in the Superbike B race and his race time would have him in 2nd in that race also !
Another ride worth mentioning was David Moran who was flying and
Robin Heathcote who took two seconds off his previous best also.
The class is really turning into what I'd hoped for from the start with the 250GP bikes mixing it up with the 750s just like the old days.
Next round is the Leinster Club event in less than three weeks . We're racing on the Sunday only and have two races. Until then, M

Hi All, apols for delay in writing this update from last weekend. Its because I'm getting old and slow :)
We didn't get qualifying or a race on Saturday because of the weather and an oily track so all to do on Sunday.
We were first out (guinea pigs) on a damp track to check the grip.
Only eleven Classic Superbikes entered unfortunately but as we were sharing the grid with the 400s it was ok.
Hilton was the first casualty when the OWO1s engine decided it wanted to become a drummer (out of tune!)
and he had to park it. Very disappointing for all involved as we were expecting a good battle between Hilton and Jamie Patterson for the win.
With Hilton out Jamie had it relatively easy and took two wins on the YZF . However Brian Murphy kept him honest finishing second twice on his immaculate 888. Brian has found a few horses in the off season and had upped his game riding wise also. Tim O Kennedy on his gorgeous YZF took a podium in race one . This was Tims first race in 35 years ! Well done Tim.
Race two saw Mick Mc Evoy take the final podium place.

There's no space for us at the next meeting on the 22nd so we're all entering the Superbike B race. Lets see how the old guys and bikes get on against the young guys on modern bikes. Predictions anyone ?
Hilton should be back on the grid although Jamie cant make this round. Cormac Conroy , who's leading a couple of classic c/ships in England at the mo will be there along with a bunch of others that couldn't make it last weekend.
Until then, M

Two big names joining us for the series this year. Hilton Hincks will be riding my OWO1 with backing from Downes solicitors and Jamie Patterson is coming out of retirement and will be riding a YZF 750. These two guys should add a real buzz to the class. Tim O Kennedy , Brian Carey and Robin Heathcote will also join us on YZFs. There's a bunch of other guys also joining including the very fast Ronan Shanahan on a TZ 250 rev cyld. I'm hoping to ride my Katana and looking forward to mixing it up with the newer bikes (or trying anyway) . Its probably more than 30 years since a Katana was raced around Mondello in anger.
We have a whatsapp group thing going for anyone riding in our series so if you're not in the group already let me know and I'll add you.
First round coming up in a couple of weeks at the masters (may 7/8 )
More soon, M

Quick post, to New Zealander who sent a message recently. I cant read it for some reason. Try on Messenger please, M

Hi All, some of you have been in touch re
what rounds we'll be running at this year. Sorry for the delay in doing this as I've been tied up with PI stuff until now.
We will not be racing at the first Mondello round in March but will be at all other Mondello Masters, Leinster, ISAM, SCComm & Fingal events. Some bits and pieces to be finalised but will be back on here shortly with the actual dates and info.
Couple of changes for this year as mentioned previously .
1, Age limit of rider reduced to 42 so any rider born in 74' or before is eligible to enter. However the "70" rule still applies meaning a 42 yr old entering this year is limited to a machine no newer than 1988.
43 yr old 1989 etc etc up to the newest machine allowed of 1993 no matter how old the rider is.
2, a rider of "any" age
can enter our class providing they're riding a proper pre 1983 F1 bike to include XR69s , Katanas, Nico Bakkers , Moto Martins, Katanas etc.
The reason for this is to allow those hoping to be included in Phillip Island Team Ireland 2017 to get some track time !
Should be fun !!

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions (for example ,option of dropping one or two rounds ) or anything else related to our series please feel free to get in touch.
More soon, Mike

2015 championship now over with Des Butler the well deserved champion. Well done Des.
Cormac Conroy took second even though he couldnt make this round due to commitments racing across the water today. Well done Cormac.
I was lucky enough to scrape into third following three wins today and a bit of good luck following Mick Mc Evoys "off" in R3.
Brian Murphy rode really well this weekend taking a couple of podiums and will definitely be a threat next year.
Now to the "tough luck" part.
David Moran had an off during qualifying losing the front on turn 2 and doing so damaged his ankle. David has really come on strongly this year and will only get faster next year.
Dave Molloy was flying before he had an off in R2 and also has a bit of mending to do.
Then in R3 Sam Wright and David Hayes had a coming together on the straight resulting in both sliding on their asses down the track and hurting their shoulders. Sam had finally gotten his RS on the pipe this weekend and David was riding the wheels of his GSXR. Get well soon guys and come back stronger next year.
Well done to all the other regulars including Philip Benson, Sean Griffin both of whom are getting quicker each round.
Thanks to all our series sponsors,
Seamus Downes of Downes Solrs,
Greg Sullivan of Arena Crystal,
Barry Gill of AGC glass blasting,
Noel O Loughlin insurances Ennis,
Ben O Brien of the DPF Clinic Limerick and Weibang Garden Machinery compliments of Camsaw Dist.
More soon , thanks, Mike

Ok, championship update time.
Last round this weekend coming ,at the Masters.
Leading the c/ship is Cormac Conroy on 238 points
Second is Des Butler with 217
Mick Mc Evoy is lying third with 190
Fourth is David Moran with 168.
I'm lying fifth with 161 and Barry Gill is sixth on 131.
Cormac cant make this round as he's competing in the UK on the same days so Des Butler is looking good for the overall series win ! Cormac has a good chance of finishing third or possibly second even though he wont be there.
Mick Mc needs to keep his head down as theres a couple of us with our eyes on the final c/ship podium position !
One race on Saturday , two on Sunday possibly with the lightweight supersports.
Our thanks as always to our sponsors.
Series sponsor,
Seamus Downes of Downes Solicitors Dublin.
Greg Sullivan of Arena Crystal who has supplied the magnificent trophies.
Barry Gill of AGC glass blasting
Ben O Brien of the DPF Clinic Limerick.
Noel O Loughlin Insurance Ennis and Weibang garden Machinery courtesy of Camsaw Distributors.
Re 2016, the age limit will almost definitely be lowered to 42 (from 45) . Us older guys have enough practice in now and we're ready to take on the younger (slightly :) guys.
So, if you were born in 1974 or before you'll be eligible to enter on a pre 1988 bike.
Another change being considered because of the Team Ireland Phillip Island Classic is "no "rider age restriction for anyone entering a proper pre 1984 classic bike in our class. Your thoughts please on these proposed changes, Mike

Hi again, the nice people at mondello have accommodated us by fitting us in with the lightweight supersports which means we'll have three races. One on Sat and two on Sunday. Anyone already entered please contact Jackie at Mondello on 045860200 to amend their booking. To those not yet entered please do so now .
Again, phone Jackie for the new fee which I guess will be the same as the other normal classes.
Lastly, all racers in our series who sees this post please let me know to save me phone calls, Mike

Hi guys, we're meant to be racing on Sat and Sun next weekend (last round of the series )as agreed at start of year but they have us pencilled in for Sat only ! Trying to get this resolved at the moment and awaiting a reply to my emails. Mike

Hi all, we will put all updates and information on this page concerning Phillip Island Team Ireland from now on :) Go check it out!

Phillip Island International Challenge Team Ireland Non-profit organisation