Brian McCormack eager to seize dream chance with FHO Racing at 2022 road races

Brian McCormack has a busy few months ahead as the Waterford man gears up for his return to North West 200 and a renewed assault on the Isle of Man TT.
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McCormack is one half of BMW Motorrad’s official road racing team alongside Peter Hickman in entrepreneur Faye Ho’s FHO Racing squad in 2022, when the affable 37-year-old also hopes to be back on the grid at the Ulster Grand Prix at Dundrod.

Last year, ‘Big Mac’ contested a full season in the British Superbike Championship on the Roadhouse Macau by FHO Racing BMW M1000RR after the major road races were cancelled for a second successive year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

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However, road racing is set for a full-scale return this year, when McCormack will compete at the North West 200 in May for the first time in a decade.

Brian McCormack on the Roadhouse Macau by FHO Racing BMW in the 2021 British Superbike Championship. Picture: David Yeomans.Brian McCormack on the Roadhouse Macau by FHO Racing BMW in the 2021 British Superbike Championship. Picture: David Yeomans.
Brian McCormack on the Roadhouse Macau by FHO Racing BMW in the 2021 British Superbike Championship. Picture: David Yeomans.

Before then, the Tramore rider plans to debut his new M1000RR Superbike at the first round of the Dunlop Masters Superbike series at Mondello Park from April 23-24, while McCormack will also ride in the opening rounds of the National Superbike 1000 Championship as he builds towards the North West and TT.

“Hopefully, I might be doing the first round of the Dunlop Masters at Mondello Park before going over to Oulton Park for the BSB round ahead of the North West 200,” McCormack said.

“I haven’t sat on the new Superbike they’ve built for me yet but I was very surprised with the lap times I put in at Cartagena when I rode the new M1000RR Superstock bike, which is much easier to ride than the older Superbike.

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“I gelled with the bike quite quickly and I did some surprising times, so I was happy with that. We also went to Andalucia as well for four days so we’ve got some good miles under our belts already.

“I’ve another Spanish test planned and then it will be back for the all the BSB tests,” he added.

“I haven’t really rode proper Superbikes throughout my career and it’s always been ’stockers, which I find more comfortable to ride and get good feedback from. You have to be so on the limit to get the best out of the Superbike and if not, then they don’t feel nice to ride.

“I struggled with that in BSB last year because I hadn’t been at that level since 2008, and things have moved on a lot.”

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After deciding to contest the condensed six-round British Superbike Championship on shoestring budget as a privateer in 2020, the former Irish Superbike and Mondello Masters champion secured a dream chance to ride for FHO Racing in BSB last year.

“I just got talking to Faye (Ho) and things went from there,” McCormack said. “I was in the right place at the right time and I got offered the chance to ride for FHO Racing in 2021, but then the road races were cancelled again and we concentrated on BSB.

“I think we can improve a lot at the TT with the package I’m sitting on this year and to have a factory BMW at this stage of my career is just incredible.

“I’ve a Supersport bike as well, plus a new Aprilia 660, so I’ve a good stable of bikes and I’d like to try and get out on them all at Mondello for a good shakedown.”

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“I’d say my first time out on the Superbike in anger will probably be at Mondello and then we’ll look at getting a run out at Kirkistown or Bishopscourt before the North West for a good shakedown.

McCormack is the fastest Irishman ever to lap the TT course after clocking a speed of 128.812mph on his way to ninth in the 2019 Senior. Yet, he feels he has so much more to come this year on the top-spec BMW M1000RR.

“I love the TT record and I’m very honoured to have that, but the actual lap speed itself is not really that great,” he said.

“I had a bit of an electrical issue in the Senior that year and the bike wouldn’t go over 172mph.

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“I was in and around seventh at some stage but I just couldn’t go any faster with the problem we had.

“My sector times were quite good on the slower parts of the track, but on Sulby straight I was 20mph down the whole way and it was the same up on the mountain.

“So I’d like to see the lap speed up a good bit and I’m quite confident I can do that, but I’m not going with any huge expectations other than to improve again.

“With the bike I have and how I’m feeling now – I’m fitter and probably faster than any time I’ve been going to the TT in the past – I’m really looking forward to it.”

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McCormack is also grateful to have the chance to return to the North West 200 for the first time since 2012, a luxury he has previously had to forgo over the years.

“As a privateer I wasn’t able to afford going to the North West in the past because it was so close to the TT, so that’s why I haven’t been there since 2012,” he said.

“So I’m looking forward to going to the North West because it’ll give me an extra few miles under my belt at those speeds before I go to the TT.”

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